Bloodlines
by Winged Lady Colette
Summary: A one night stand with Klaus Mikaelson leads Caroline to New Orleans.
1. Say this is okay

**Author's Note: I know, I shouldn't be doing another story, but this is going to be it for a while, I promise! It's just another one of those stories that I've been thinking about since I got back into the fandom. I'm still holding out hope that more people will return to this fandom so that I have more to read when my Klaroline heart needs feeding. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

Caroline opens the door to her home and frowns at the popped dimples thrown her way. She blinks once, twice, three times before swinging the door closed as fast as her twitch reflexes would allow. Which isn't fast enough for Original speed, apparently, as Klaus's hand catches it before she has the chance to close it all the way.

Caroline groans louder than necessary and opens the door again to see Klaus staring back at her, amusement shining in those beautiful blue eyes.

"Now that wasn't a very pleasant hello, Caroline."

Honestly, she knew why he was there, on her doorstep and there was no one in the world that could be blamed for this aside from her. But that doesn't mean she's not going to direct her anger and frustration at the man in front of her as she did sort of blame him too.

"What do you want, Klaus?" Caroline asks, crossing her arms over her chest and leveling a look at the hybrid. "I've very busy."

"I just wanted to see if you had time to talk," Klaus says amicably. He flutters mile-long lashes like it's no one's business.

Caroline has to steel herself against that feeling that was creeping up in her stomach. That very same feeling that got her into this predicament int he first place. It was a very dangerous feeling. She can't let that feeling keep controlling her. It has been nothing but trouble for her. It takes everything in her power not to let the longing feeling reach her eyes but she suspects something might show on her face.

"I'm busy, and there is nothing to talk about," Caroline says, forcing the ice chips into her voice. She desperately wants to hide how she really feels about this, but the look on his face - the amusement - gives her the impression that either it's not working or he's too in his own head to care what she's trying to convey with her expression and her eyes.

"Can I come in?" Klaus asks, all pretty, looking at her happily despite her attitude.

"No," Caroline says, leaning against the doorframe, to block the entrance into the house with her body. Not that she wasn't certain that he was able to plow through her and into her home if he really wanted to. "If you have something to say, say it out there." She jerks her chin toward the porch where he's standing. No matter how hard she tries to push him away, he doesn't seem to care. Nothing she says bothers him.

Klaus's smile turns even more devious. "Very well, if you wish to talk about the passionate, lovely night that we spent together?"

Caroline's eyes nearly bulge out of her head as soon as he started talking. Her eyes scan the area in alarm, wondering who could be hiding around which corner listening in on their conversation without them knowing. She reaches out, grabbing his arm and pulls him into the house. She pushes him past her and looks around the outside one more time to make sure that no one is obviously listening to them, before slamming the door shut.

She spins around to glare at the hybrid. "What is _wrong _with you? What if someone heard you? What if they thought that something happened between us?"

Klaus's lips purse with the smile he's not really bothering to fight. "But there is something between us, love. The night of the gala my mother threw? When she was playing house at getting us all together so that we would be linked." Caroline stares at him. His eyebrows quirk. "You know, we were out admiring the horses, and I made you mad, and we got into an argument and - "

Caroline waves her hands around briskly. "Alright, alright, stop! Nothing important happened after that."

Klaus frowns a bit. "But you kissed me, Caroline. You did."

Caroline crosses her arms over her chest and steps closer to Klaus, lowering her voice like someone would be able to hear them from within the house. Klaus welcomes the closeness, wrapping his arms around himself and leaning in close to her.

"It was a moment of weakness, Klaus. Tyler left me for parts unknown, and Elena was risking her life and we had a whole gaggle of Mikaelsons to deal with, which was our faults - sort of. But I was having this really ad time and you were there, and you gave me that ridiculously pretty dress and you were charming and blue-eyed and talking with your voice saying words the way that you do," she says mindlessly. Klaus is looking more and more amused as she goes on.

"My accent?"

Caroline nods, looking up into his beautiful eyes, hating the heat pooling in her cheeks. "Yes, that. And I was feeling vulnerable and upset and you were there, being you." Klaus leans in closer, distracting her with his hot breath washing across her face. "But we don't need to talk about it, because it was nothing."

Klaus pouts, pretending to be hurt. "But it wasn't nothing. It was the sweet, passionate moment where you finally let your heart do as it pleased." He reaches out, lightly touching her neck and cupping her jaw. "For a single moment, you weren't afraid. You were free."

Caroline stares up into his eyes, reaching up to grip his wrists. A small part of her wanted to yank his hands away, tell him he needs to stop living in a dream world and shove him out of the house, forbidding him from ever coming within a thousand miles of her, but staring into his eyes, she remembers that night with crystal clarity. It is hard to remember exactly how they got to that moment. One moment she was yelling at him about how she likes people and chooses to see the best in them, the next moment they were rolling around upstairs, in one of the bedrooms - his, maybe - and they were throwing each other around the room.

In the back of her mind, she remembers him lightly pulling her dress off of her - no doubt because it was expensive and pretty and probably one of a kind. But she wasn't nearly as kind to his suit, which he didn't mind. She remembers stripping him down to his boxers that were riding low on his trimmed hips that looked more expensive than the diamond necklace she was wearing. She steps back a tiny bit to admire his lithe body lined with strong, sinewy muscles.

Suddenly she feels self-conscious in her paper-thin, creaseless nude-colored underwear and nude strapless top each about a few years old. Caroline immediately starts to regret this, feeling like a gremlin standing next to a British ken doll. The hesitation must have shown across her face because Klaus steps back into her space and starts kissing her everywhere. Kissing her face, her lips, her neck, her shoulders, her clavicle, her chest, her stomach. Anything he could get his lips on, he kissed.

"Klaus..." Caroline says softly, her eyebrows pulling together. "I don't know. I'm not..."

"You're beautiful, Caroline," He whispers, kissing her stomach before standing up again to stare down into her eyes. "You are beautiful and kind and pure and perfect. Tyler was a fool to leave you behind. I want nothing more than to worship you as you deserve to be," he whispers darkly, blue eyes flashing a touch of molten gold as the wolf starts to come out a bit, "but if you truly don't want this, I won't force you. Say no now, and we will get dressed again and I will walk you back to the party without complaint."

"What if I say no two minutes from now?" Caroline whispers, looking into the eyes of the wolf was dangerous. Scary, even.

"The moment you say no, we stop," he rumbles and despite the scary look on his face, she could feel it in her gut. He meant it. He would stop if she asked for it. Which gave her a wave of relief she didn't know she was looking for. The moment this wasn't what she wanted anymore, he was willing to stop.

She had to know. She had to know for certain if she could trust him before going any further. So she kisses him again, runs her hands over his body as his run over his. They were rubbing each other hard and feverishly, Caroling pushes Klaus down onto his back and climb on top of him, dropping her hips down onto his and grinds into him.

He grabs onto her hips, bending over him to kiss those full red lips. She pulls back, running her thumb across his bottom lip, drunk on heat, she whispers, "Did you drink blood before this?"

He blinks, pulling back into himself a bit. His eyes are dizzy and burning with desire. "At the party, yes." A pause, then, "Why?"

She runs her finger over his lip again. "I've noticed that your lips turn bright red after you drink blood. It's how I know."

He smiles, gripping her hips a bit harder. "I never noticed," he says softly. And Caroline believes him. Klaus is way too absorbed in the things going on around him than to notice something as trivial as that. It seems kind of unimportant but her just mentioning it makes him happy. She can see the twinkle in his eyes and it makes her warm and gooey seeing that.

He leans up, running his hands from her hips to the claps of her bra she whispers, "Stop."

His entire body freezes. His lips part, staring at her face. She can see the regret and heat in his eyes, but he sighs softly, trying to release that tension, and moves the clasp back into place and pulling his hands back, begrudgingly. He sinks down onto his back again, letting out a frustrated sigh, but doesn't move to touch her again despite the fact that she is still sitting on him.

They stare at each other for a moment that feels like a century. Caroline leans down to kiss him again. At his quizzical expression, she whispers, "If I say stop, please stop."

Klaus nods, leaning up a bit to capture her lips with his. His lips are full and soft, pressing hard into her own. He leans back up again, wrapping his arms around her body to hug her close.

"Is this okay?" Klaus whispers, staring through dark lashes. "Please tell me this is okay."

Caroline, slowly, unhooks her bra, dropping it onto the floor. She wasn't very chesty, she knows. In fact, she doesn't have a chest at all and when she slept with Tyler the first time, she made sure to hide beneath the covers or with darkness, but here, in this position, she realizes that he has the perfect view of her embarrassed chest.

She reaches up to cover herself, regretting the action immediately, which is a common theme for the night it seems, when his hands wrap around hers, lacing their fingers together. Her eyes meet his hesitantly and his expression is gentle.

"You are beautiful, Caroline. Don't hide yourself away," he says softly. And Caroline believed him. She wanted to believe him because he's been around the world and through the ages, he's seen true beauty and when he stares at her like that, speaks to her so softy, so sweetly, she feels beautiful.

She leans down and kisses him again, whispering against his lips the words that sealed her fate, "This is okay."

Caroline blinks, pulling herself back to the present, staring at the man that she allowed into her body. He was gentle and loving and made her feel worshipped. He kissed every inch of her body and kept whispering to her how beautiful she was and how perfect she was. Her face was burning and she kept telling him to shut up but he wouldn't stop.

After it was over, she lay on his chest with her head on his shoulder aching but satisfied, running her hand over the plains of his chest and stomach. They listen quietly to their hearts beating as one as the party continues to go on downstairs. She didn't want to move, although she knew that she should. Her friends were here, his family was here, and half the town was here, and yet they were up in his room, hiding like children. And doing not so childish things.

Caroline runs her fingers over his abs, between his ribs, between his pecs and then along the ridges of his chest plate then both ways along his clavicle. She rests her cheek into the curve of his shoulder as she stares at the stubble along his chin, cheeks, and neck. He's beautiful. His skin is smooth and strong, his breathing is deep and slow. His pretty, full red lips quirk up when she runs her fingers over a sensitive part of his skin, making his stomach tighten to hide the little laugh. His thick, dark lashes that are about a mile and a half long that cast shadows across his cheeks from the candles around the room. He wasn't yelling or screaming or scheming. He was relishing in the afterglow as she was.

It's strange. She never noticed it before, but now, laying there on top of him, soaking in the feeling, she can feel a tingle on her skin. Like small fireworks going off across her flesh. She doesn't remember ever feeling like this with anyone before - not even Klaus. Not now it's like her body is hyper-aware of him, and it feels really good. It both excites her and calms her down, somehow.

She wanted to stay in this moment forever, but all things have to come to an end.

Caroline pulls back into herself again, blinking rapidly. She feels his thumbs trail across her cheeks as he stares down into her eyes, curiously, pale lips pursed. He hasn't drunk blood in a while.

"We've been through so much since that day, my mother wanting to kill her children, turning your history teacher into an Original Hunter..." he trails off, probably thinking about Elena too, how she is no longer human and his chances of making hybrids vanishing with it. But he doesn't say that he's not ready to face that reality, and she's not really going to blame him for it. "Tyler coming back and turning my hybrids against me. All that nasty business with Silas."

"We have been through a lot," Caroline admits, quietly.

Klaus stares into her eyes curiously. "What were you thinking about? You seemed lost in thought."

Caroline wanted to tell him that it wasn't his business. That what happened in her head was her own business, but she thought about it and realized that it was a good moment and it did change a lot of things. Specifically, how she felt about him. She missed Tyler, she does, but he chose to walk away and she couldn't deny how things have changed between them. And as much as she wanted to pretend how little it meant to her, she felt that she had to share that moment with him to grow more as a person.

Caroline hesitates to show him this, knowing that his evil mind could use this against her, but the little voice in the back of her mind tells her that he won't. That moment was meant for them and them alone. It was the thing he was seeking all along and now that he finally got it, he wasn't going to share it with anyone else. Which she supposed was fine. Great, actually, because no matter how much it ate her up inside, she couldn't bear to tell anyone what had happened. That was her secret. Their secret.

Caroline rubs her fingers together, fighting herself for a moment longer before deciding that it was only fair that she shows him. She reaches up, placing her fingers against the sides of his head, through the soft curls of his hair and against his skull. "I'll show you," Caroline says softly, staring into his eyes. "Tell me that this is okay."

His lips part slightly, no doubt remembering the moment he said those words to her. He stares back at her before nodding slowly. "This is okay." He closes his eyes, wrapping his hands around her wrists and waits.

She pushes the memory into his mind, from her point of view. She goes back through that memory with him. She ends it when they finally untangle from one another and start to get dressed again. As she was pulling her dress on, she looked over at him as he was pulling his pants up. In the light, with her vampire sight, she can see along his pale skin old, old scars that decorate his back and Caroline remembers the stories of Klaus's past. In her mind's eye, she sees that back curled into a ball protecting his face as he's whipped and beat.

Caroline feels pity and sadness swells in her chest. And that is why stop is so important to him. But those scars made him strong, showed that he was a survivor. It doesn't excuse the terrible things he's done, but she can now see physical proof of his suffering and it tugs at her heartstrings.

"You are beautifully flawed," Caroline whispers, and suddenly the two of them are standing in that room, their mirrored images are frozen in that moment. Klaus is standing next to her as they both look around the room. "You're abrasive, rude, conniving, manipulative and hateful," Caroline says. "But you weren't always like that, were you?"

Caroline was looking at Klaus's back in the memory, but Klaus was looking at Caroline's face. Her eyebrows pulled together tightly, a small frown on her lips, pity, and sadness in her eyes.

"No," he says softly. "Not always. I was a boy once. But that was a long time ago."

"Will you tell me about him someday?" Caroline asks softly.

Klaus pulls his eyes over to her, tilting his head a bit. "Who, love?"

"Niklaus. The artist boy."

Klaus's expression softens. His lips part but before he can speak there is a knock at the door that pulls them from the memory.

Klaus and Caroline are standing in the hall leading toward the front door. She pulls away, stepping out of his grip and looking over at the doorway, then back to Klaus with furrowed brows. "Excepting guests?"

Klaus raises his own eyebrows. "It's your house, Caroline."

Oh, right.

Caroline looks over at the door, worried about what was waiting on the other side of it. Apprehensively, Caroline walks over to it, hesitating long enough to look over at Klaus to see him standing where she left him before reaching out and opening the door. She jumps at the sight of Elena, Stefan, and Damon all staring at her doorway. Caroline blinks a few times, looking between the three of them.

"Hello?" She says, head tilting to the side.

Elena gives her a look. "Mind if we come in?" She asks, moving to step passed Caroline and into the house, stopping at the sight of Klaus. Hilariously, she mimicked Caroline's actions from just a few seconds before, tilting her head to the side with a confused, "Hello?"

Caroline flinches as the three pile into her house without her expressed welcome. "Well..." Damon says, casting a smirking Klaus a suspicious up-down. "Shaking up with the devil, are we Blondie? The dust kicked up from Lockwood's hasty retreat hasn't even settled and you are already moved on to the bigger, badder wolf?" He widens his pretty blue eyes.

Caroline glares at him, despite that being very, painfully close to the truth that she doesn't know how else to react. "Damon, what do you want?"

"It's not Damon," Elena says, eyeing Klaus, who smiles charmingly back at her, before turning to look at Caroline, she steps closer as if that would prevent the hybrid from being able to listen in on their conversation. "We're here because I'm suffocating. Did you want to do something or are you... busy?"

Caroline waves off Klaus like they weren't just having a moment. A defense mechanism to deal with Klaus Mikaelson. "No, what's up?"

"Nothing," Elena says, rubbing at her forehead. "I just wanted to do something that wasn't these two staring at me." She thumbs in the direction of the Salvatore brothers.

"Why is Klaus here?" Elena asks, glancing over at the Hybrid mistrustfully. "Is he hurting you?"

"Oh come on, Elena, if he wanted to hurt her, he would have already," Damon says. "That's why she's our distraction. Satan is crazy about the firey blond with the snippy attitude."

"Speaking of deals with the devil," Caroline quips, shooting Damon a look but talking to Klaus, "Do we have a deal, Klaus? Damon Salvatore's head for my immortal soul?

Klaus smiles, amused. "Of course, love. I'd do it for free if you really wanted too. Damon doesn't stand a chance against me."

Damon glares at him. "No more than Carol Lockwood, right Klaus?"

Klaus frowns at that while Elena snaps, "Damon, now isn't the time for that."

Damon rolls his eyes, while Stefan walks in, holding a package in his hands. He holds it out for Caroline to take, defusing the situation with his calm, even voice. "Are you expecting something?"

Caroline's eyebrows pull together, relieved by the distraction. "No, I wasn't expecting anything. Maybe it's for my mom."

"It's addressed to you," Stefan says, passing it to her. "With no return address."

Caroline is even more confused, taking the box and walking into the kitchen to grab a knife to cut it open. It's really light and if there wasn't something rolling around inside there she would have thought it was empty. She opens the box and glances inside to see a necklace with a huge red stone. Caroline tilts her head to the side, to see Elena looking down into the box.

"A necklace?" Elena asks, looking over at Stefan and Damon. "Why a necklace?"

"Got a secret admirer, Blondie?" Damon asks, grinning. "You should be careful, you attract psychopaths and prolific serial killers."

"Is that a stab at Lockwood and me or just me?" Klaus asks, venomously. "Because I would be careful and choose your next words wisely, mate."

Damon's smile is just as venomous. "Take a guess.

"Damon, stop," Elena says at the same time as Stefan says, "Damon, knock it off." They both look at each other as Damon rolls his eyes and turns away to walk around the kitchen.

Klaus walks over and peers into the box, curiously. "Who's it from, Caroline?" He looks at her through long lashes and she's keenly aware of his body pressed close enough she can feel the heat radiating off of him. She swallows, forcing her to focus on something that isn't the Hybrid standing way too close to her.

"I don't know," Caroline says, reaching in and grabbing the chain of the necklace and holds it up, admiring the red stone. It's huge, about three inches in size that she can see her own reflection in. It's beautiful and a bit intimidating. It reminds her of the richest blood that she's had to force herself to look away from. She reaches out and lightly touches the stone and feels a zap run through her fingers, making her gasp and drop it to the floor.

She looks down at her fingers in confusion. "What...?"

"Caroline?" Elena asks, eyebrows pulling together tightly. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"It... It zapped me," Caroline says. Then a feeling washes over her. A feeling that she recognizes. It's that feeling she used to get before she would throw up. That tingling, heavy feeling settling over her. It just came on suddenly.

"Caroline?" Klaus says, his voice sounding a mile away. He reaches out toward her and she collapses into his arms.

Her head starts to hurt and the sound of Elena, Klaus, and Stefan's voices all fade away as she sees a series of numbers flashing behind her lids. The same series of numbers flashing over and over again in her mind until they are burned into her retinas. She can feel Klaus's warmth wrapping around her tightly, holding her to him as tightly as he can without hurting her.

Klaus isn't sure how long those images flashed in her head, but when she started coming to, she could hear herself saying the numbers aloud, over and over again. She can hear the sound of a woman's voice although she's not sure what she is saying, she sees bright lights and a prevalent nightlife. Like a never-ending party. Once she was finally able to, she stops reciting the numbers and focuses in on Klaus's neck, which her face is buried into, as he rocks back and forth slowly. The action is comforting.

"What was that?" Elena asks, her voice shaking. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"A witch's hex," Klaus growls, his voice rumbles in the ear that she has pressed against his chest.

"What were those numbers?" Elena asks. "She kept repeating them over and over again."

The woman's voice comes into focus in her head and Caroline hears herself mumble, "French Quarter."

"French Quarter?" Stefan echoes.

"Wait, those numbers..." Damon says slowly. "It's a phone number. That's a New Orleans area code. So what's in the French Quarter?"

"My guess?" Stefan says slowly, "Witches."

"But why would they do that? Why would they do something to Caroline? She's never been to New Orleans. At least," Elena hesitates slowly, "not that I know of. But still, Caroline hasn't done anything bad to anyone."

Caroline feels her hand clenching and unclenching her fist in Klaus's shirt on his back. She blinks a few times drunkenly. She feels sickened and weak. That tingling that she was feeling before is still present, but she's starting to return to herself. She's able to focus a bit more than she was able to a moment ago. It takes her another second to feel Elena cradling her other hand and rubbing at it comfortingly.

"Phone..." Caroline mumbles, blinking back into herself fully. "Stefan, gab me my phone."

There is a moment of hesitation before he kneels down by her side and holds out the phone for her to take. She's still laying on the floor in Klaus's arms, cradling her close. Making her feel safe and secure. She takes the phone, curling tighter into Klaus's arms, she uses her one hand to type in the number and brings the phone to her ear. She has to call this number. She knows she does. It rings twice before someone picks up.

"Hello?"

"What did you do to me?" Caroline asks, her voice cracking and she thinks she's going to cry. "What is happening to me?"

A long moment of silence and Carolinecurls into Klaus's arms more, pressing her forehead more into the hybrid's neck. "Caroline Forbes?"

"What is with that necklace..? Why do I feel like this?" Caroline feels that sickening tingles get more intense and she curls around him a bit more. "What did you do to me?"

The woman lets out a soft sigh. "I see. Caroline Forbes, my name is Jane-Anne Deveraux, and I need you to come to New Orleans. The French Quarter."

Caroline's voice cracks again. "Why? What do you want from me?" She presses her face closer to Klaus's neck, happy that she doesn't have to see the expressions of the people around her. She's tired and weak and in pain.

"Take that necklace and put it on, and keep it on," Jane-Anne says. "And come to New Orleans. You have to, or you'll die."

Caroline feels weak. There is a pain in her chest that frightens her beyond belief. Die? She said die. Does that mean whatever that was that coursed through her hand is going to kill her? "What?"

Klaus grabs the phone out of her hand and brings it to his ear, squeezing her so tightly to him that it almost hurts but she feels like he would cry if he let go. She's starting to feel the worry and panic settling into her gut.

"Jane-Anne Deveraux, was it? This is Klaus Mikaelson. I presume you have something to tell me. Like why you are attacking my friend and why I shouldn't march down to New Orleans right at this moment and rip your heart out of your chest," Klaus snarls, his voice like an angry thunderstorm in her ear. The arm that is around her shoulders, pressing her into him tightens possessively. He rubs his thumb against the smooth skin of her arm.

There is a long moment of silence before Jane-Anne says softly. "Hello, Mr. Mikaelson, I'm glad that you are here as well. You are going to need to accompany her here."

"Do you presume to tell me - " Klaus starts, anger rising in his voice. Caroline can feel the vein in his neck pulsate against her forehead with his rising heart rate - to match his rising anger.

"If you care even the slightest about Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson," Jane-Anne says, her voice hard, "then you will bring her to New Orleans within the week."

A pause, then, "What happens within the week?" Klaus asks dangerously.

"Caroline Forbes will die. And it will be slow and painful. The only way to save her is here, in New Orleans. With me," Jane-Anne says. "I am the only one who can save her life. So if you care even a little bit, bring her here. You have a week. Goodbye, Mr. Mikaelson."

**For curiosities sake, is anyone at all interested in bringing in some people from Mystic Falls to New Orleans. If so, who?**


	2. Decide

**Author's Note: Hello, yall! Sorry about the wait! Thank you so much for all your support so far! I just love hearing all that you have to say! Your encouragement really helps motivate me so thank you all so much fortaking the time to say something! Two chapters for two stories in one day has got to be a record for me. But I'm exhausted now and going to bed. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

Caroline can feel the muscles in Klaus's jaw work. She knows, well, that Klaus isn't the biggest fan of being given ultimatums. They give him rashes and invoke a very powerful, very violent knee-jerk reaction that usually ends with people dying - a lot of them - and someone somehow having to make amends where they can. And even then, that usually ends again one of two ways. Either they will be able to make amends and all is forgiven, or they aren't able to and more people end up dead and the horrible cycle continues on and on.

"Caroline," Elena says, taking up the blond's hand once more and giving it a renewed squeeze, cradling her hand close. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"

Exhausted, hurt, and worried Caroline shakes her head, rasping, "I don't know how I feel. My head hurts and I feel weak."

Elena's dark brown eyes shine with worry as her eyebrows pull together. "Come on, let's get you into bed, okay? You... just need to rest." She gives Caroline's hand a small tug and while Caroline doesn't want to leave Klaus's warmth and protective arms, she knows she has to. Something terrible has just happened to her, but she knows how this looks. She knows that she shouldn't be relishing in this feeling. She needs to... she needs to lay down.

"Okay," Caroline whispers, wrapping her hand around Elena's, agonizingly slowly unwrapping herself from around Klaus and brings her legs up closer to her chest to push herself up to her feet. Elena pops up onto her feet without a problem making Caroline feel like she's a thousand years older. She makes it about halfway up with Elena's help, before she tips back again, legs giving out beneath her. Klaus catches hold of her hips, steadying her for the moment she needs to feel the fire spread through her veins and she snaps straight up once more, almost crashing into Elena as she does it.

"Whoa!" Elena says, grabbing hold of her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Caroline says, nodding. "Can you help me to my bed, please?"

She can't look back at Klaus as she knows he climbs to his own feet. She can feel his hands burning into her hips and once more she's reminded of that night at the Mikaelson ball. The memory is so fresh from reliving it twice no more than an hour ago, that she can't seem to shove it from her mind. The tingling in her hips is hard to ignore as Elena leads her down the hall while Stefan, Damon, and Klaus no doubt decide what to do while they are away.

Caroline lays down in the bed as Elena helps her get comfortable, but the energy drains from her quickly and once she's under the covers, she sinks into her bed and feels her eyes droop.

Elena sits down on the edge of the bed as the two of them listen to the men talk in her kitchen. Despite how tired she is, Caroline can see hear them with crystal clarity even though they are in the next room.

"So, when do we leave?"

"What? You're just going to walk her all the way to New Orleans?" Stefan asks, incredulously.

"Sure," Damon says, "unless you want to leave her to die whatever mysterious death this witch has in store for her. How very unhero-like of you, Stefan. I never thought you were going to be the one to give up."

Stefan groans. "Stop playing around, Damon. I'm not going to let Caroline die. I'm just not a fan of running into the clutches of these witches. Especially if we don't know what they want."

"You know what the easiest way to find out what they want?" Damon asks rhetorically. "You ask them! Preferably with threats and a bit of violence."

"Damon, that's going to be adding fuel to the fire and you know it," Stefan says rationally. "The last thing we want to do is provoke these witches into doing something more to hurt Caroline. They already threatened her, and somehow they were able to get to her enough that she was able to reach back out to them. We have to be smart about this. I'm not going to let Caroline get hurt all because you jumped the gun."

"This is about Elena, isn't it?" Damon asks, sardonically. "You think you can win her back by being her best friend's knight in shining armor, don't you?"

"Enough, Damon," Stefan snaps. "This isn't about Elena, this is about Caroline. She needs us to focus. She needs us to help her, not fight over Elena. I'm doing this because Caroline is my friend and she needs me. Not because of Elena. Not everything I do is for Elena."

Caroline blinks slowly, staring at the downturned face of her friend. Any other time of day, she would be telling Elena how much she still doesn't think that her friend should torture herself with Damon Salvatore any more than she has to, but it feels hypocritical now. Caroline is in a very similar situation. It should be Tyler that she yearns to be with. It should be her friends that she's turning to for help, but against all rationality and reason, deep in her heart, she knows that she wants Klaus. She wants him in this room with her right now and for him to somehow make all of this better.

And Caroline doesn't know why. She doesn't know why her heart yearns for him other than because of what happened earlier. She let him into her heart just a little bit more. She opened herself up to him once more and now she can't shut him out. She knew she should have slammed the door in his face. She knew she should have run away from him that night.

But she didn't. And now here she is.

A moment of silence, then, "Well, Satan? You're quiet," Damon says snidely, annoyed that his baby brother had the audacity to yell at him with a sensible argument. "Lose interest already?"

"Damon," Stefan snaps, also annoyed.

"Listen here, Damon, I assure you there is no interest lost. Simply because I am considering possibilities beyond your limited understandings doesn't mean that I do not see the need for urgency," Klaus says through gritted teeth. "Before we go stomping into this Jane-Anne Deveraux's back yard, we should at least explore our options."

Another moment of silence before Stefan says, "Bonnie? Are you busy? Can you come to Caroline's house as soon as possible? We... have a bit of a problem."

Elena reaches out and touches Caroline's hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Bonnie is going to be able to fix this, okay?" She stares into Caroline's half-lidded eyes with her own worried brown ones. When Caroline doesn't respond right away, Elena says, "Okay?" She squeezes her hand again and leans in closer to really stare into her eyes. "Okay, Caroline?"

Caroline nods slowly, mumbling a garbled, "I'm okay."

"So, any ideas that might be able to help Bonnie?" Stefan asks. "I'd like to at least do something rather than just let her figure it all out alone. How about we start with Jane-Anne Deveraux? What do we know about her?"

"She's a witch," Damon offers, then a moment of silence, then, "Well, we can at least guess that she is."

"The French Quarter, she said, not the Cauldron," Klaus muses, but the way that he draws out his words belies his anger, "or perhaps that part comes later."

"I don't remember anything about a witch named Deveraux the last time we were there," Damon says. He claps his hands together and Caroline can hear the placating excitement in his voice that he uses when he's unsure and maybe a bit worried - for her? She must be dreaming. "Well, time to do a little bit of sleuthing, Detective Salvatore."

"Agreed, let's start with that necklace. It definitely looks familiar," Stefan agrees.

Elena pets down Caroline's hair and stands up. "I'll be right back." She walks out of the room and down the hall toward the kitchen. Caroline reaches behind herself awkwardly until she finds the little stuffed animal she was looking for. Ironically, a pretty pink wolf with little fangs. She won it - er, Stefan won it for her - at the last fair while they were hanging out and it is the softest stuffed animal in the world. She loves it.

She wraps it up in her arms, listening to Elena in the other room, "You guys go," she says. "I'll stay here and keep Caroline company. And I'll let Bonnie know what's going on. You guys just see what you can figure out." Then her voice drops low and Caroline has to strain her ears painfully to hear her whisper, "We need to hurry. She... doesn't look so good. I'm worried."

"Excuse me," Klaus says, then she listens as his footsteps make their way down the hall toward her. He stops at her doorway and stares in at her, leaning against the frame. "How do you feel, love?"

Caroline blinks at him, feeling the pounding in her head. She holds her hand out toward him, beckoning him forward. He walks into the room like an elegant wolf, putting her stuffed animal to shame before lowering down onto the bed, leaning over her. They stare at one another for a long time, just staring into each other's eyes until Caroline's vision gets too blurry and she has to blink, but her eyes meet his again.

She feels his hand wrap around her own soothingly. He rubs his thumb against the back of her hand soothingly. She could get used to gentle Klaus. He's a much better company than the other version of himself. She could live in this moment forever, excluding the weakness and fatigue and how bad her head hurts. But she does like this gentleness from the abrasive, rude Hybrid.

"Did you recognize the necklace, Caroline?" Klaus asks softly. Caroline shakes her lightly, eyes blurring again. She closes her eyes tightly then opens them up again, able to see better again. "Not at all?" Caroline shakes her head again.

"No..."

Klaus runs the knuckles on the back of his hand against her cheek in a loving gesture that she could melt into. "Are you in pain, love?" Caroline shakes her head a little bit. "Is there anything I can get for you?" He looks at the little wolf for a moment, confused before realizing what it was and a small smile crosses over his face as he says softly, "A little wolf?"

Caroline could lie, say that it was just the luck of the draw, but the truth slips from her lips, "It was the cutest... and I love the color..." She smiles thinly at his own smile and raised eyebrows, giving him a cuter, more open expression. She wished that there would be more times when he felt like he could show this side of himself. She loved it. She wished it was easier to see that smile.

She wished she wouldn't have to have her life threatened for him to be so gentle and kind.

"Klaus," she whispers so softly, it's probably more of her lips moving rather than her really saying anything. "Am I going to die?"

Klaus shakes his head, slowly, staring down into her eyes. He twists around and lowers onto his knees next to her, lowering down until he's eye level with her. "No, love, you aren't going to die."

Caroline snuggles into the little pink wolf, clutching his hand tighter to look at Klaus. She reaches out with the hand not holding onto Klaus's to run the side of her finger against his cheek, staring into his eyes. They're hard, angry, fierce and protective. He looks like he's ready to fight the entire world and that little voice in the back of her head tells her that it was for her. He was like that because of her.

But she also saw the touch of worry, that despite all he knows and all he can do, something bad might happen. And that scares the hell out of her. Someone as great and powerful as Klaus with that touch of fear in his eyes? She is so utterly terrified to see that.

Tears well up in her eyes as she scoots closer to the edge of her bed, staring into his eyes with her own watery ones. She sniffles, blinking rapidly. "I'm scared, Klaus. I really don't feel good. I haven't felt like this since I was human. I feel nauseous and weak and I'm scared." Klaus cups the side of her head, lips pressing tightly together. "I don't want to die, Klaus. Please..." she breathes heavily, hardly able to catch her breath. "I'm so... so scared."

He pushes her hair off of her forehead, gently. "I know, love. But you have my word, I will do everything that I can to make you safe again and make those that dare threaten you pay dearly." His eyes darken with his intent. He really looks like he's going to follow through with his words. And Caroline believes him. He's so sweet to her when she's nothing but rude and mean to him. The only times she ever shows him a touch of kindness is when she's trying to distract him or otherwise inconvenience him for the benefit of herself or her friends.

Caroline closes her eyes. "Okay..."

"I swear to you," he says, leaning forward to press his lips against her forehead before pulling away and standing up slowly, drawing his hand back without her being able to stop him if she even had the strength to do it. He has to go, she knows, if he is going to be able to do anything for her, it's going to be out there, not in her bedroom with her while she struggles not to fall asleep.

"Okay..."

Elena's smaller, thinner hand wraps around her own as Caroline's eyes droop closed completely. "It'll be okay, Caroline. The guys will dig up some clues and Bonnie will find a way to help." A pause, then, "She's on her way. She'll be here soon."

Caroline hugs the wolf closer to her chest, nodding her head a bit with all the energy she has left. "Okay..."

* * *

"Care?" Someone runs their hand through her hair, pulling her sluggishly from her sleep. "Caroline, can you hear me?"

"Bonnie..?" Caroline mumbles, using all of her strength to open her eyes. She smiles, seeing the beautiful face of her best friend. Her crooked smile is like a breath of fresh air. "Hi, Bonnie! I... missed you."

Bonnie runs her hand over Caroline's forehead, smoothing her hair down. "How do you feel?" Caroline isn't sure what she mumbled but it didn't convince either of them that she was feeling good, or fine. "I'm going to help you, Caroline, I promise. I'm going to try a few spells. Ever since this ordeal with Silas... my magic has been very... strange. Expression... spiritual... I'm more powerful than I was before. I just... there has to be something that I can do with all of it," Bonnie says, pressing her lips tightly together. "I can help. I know it."

Caroline smiles as much as she can. "I know you will. Bonnie Bennett is the greatest witch ever. The best of the best."

Bonnie presses her lips together tighter, nodding slowly. "Get some sleep, I'm going to take a look at this necklace, see what I can figure out."

Caroline nods her head slowly. "Okay..." She believes that if anyone could do anything for her, it would be Bonnie. She meant what she said. She thought that Bonnie really was the best witch around.

She was so honored that everyone was helping her out. It's unusual, seeing that everyone was banning together behind her. She's not used to that. Usually, when everyone is banding together to do something it's typically to save Elena. Not that she minds it all that much, but it's strange to be on the other side of all of this. She used to join with everyone else, jumping to the aid of her friends.

She knew she would do it in a heartbeat, but it's weird that others would do the same for her. She knows that they love her, she does, but the idea that they would all jump to all hands on deck - Damon of all people was the first to say anything, which is odd - is just so weird to her. She's not surprised about Elena, and Bonnie, and even Stefan, but the fact that all of them, including Damon and Klaus, is just leaving her already mushy mind more befuddled.

She hears Elena and Bonnie walk away into the other room to do whatever spell Bonnie has been thinking about doing. Caroline wants nothing more than to close her eyes and fall back to sleep, but she doesn't want to. She pushes herself up against the bedframe, feeling lethargic and tired. She rubs at her shoulders, turning to look over at the window. She feels terrible. She feels like she's dying. Slowly. She looks away from the sunlight and down to her hands, but they feel like her hands. She doesn't feel like she's desiccating.

The light is bright and hurts her eyes to stare into it. She's not sure that the sun has ever been this bright. Even though the sun is setting as night is almost upon them, she feels like it will never stop shining this brightly.

Agonizingly slow, Caroline pulls herself to her feet and walks over to the window, looking out over the same view that she's had her entire life. The backyard, the road, the trees, everything is the same as she has always seen it. Yet it's bathed in this heavy light that is impossible to look at.

Caroline pulls the curtains closed as tightly as they will go to block out as much of the waning sun as possible before walking back to the bed. Her steps are painfully slow and it feels like she has concrete wrapped around her ankles. She falls back into bed and closes her eyes.

* * *

"Just a little bit longer, Caroline, I promise," Bonnie says, eyeing the drooping girl with a worried look. "Can you stay awake for a few more minutes? I think I've almost got something."

Elena, who has been helping hold Caroline up, looks at the witch with worried brown eyes. "Maybe that's enough for today. It's late."

Caroline rubs roughly at her forehead, looking over to see that it is well past two in the morning. They woke her up a few hours ago and she's been struggling to remain awake ever since. This has to be an aftereffect of whatever it was that Jane-Anne Deveraux did to her. They've got some helpless updates from the guys, having roped her mom in on it to see what more they could learn.

"One more," Bonnie says, looking back to Caroline, "one more and then I promise we are done for today."

Caroline nods, too tired to really care at this point. At this point, she just wants this aching in her head to go away. She wants to sleep too, but rational Caroline is still in her aching mind reminding her that this was about her life. She had to just let Bonnie do her thing. She trusts Bonnie to help her however she can.

Through half-lidded eyes, Caroline watches as Bonnie performs another spell, holding out for her hand and Caroline places her own in the witch's palm. Bonnie cuts Caroline's palm and drips her blood down onto the necklace before letting her take her own hand back. Caroline wipes out the blood off on a napkin as Bonnie begins chanting with her eyes closed and her hand hovering over the necklace. Caroline blinks a few times, forcing her tired mind to focus on the looks that keep crossing her friend's face.

The shutters of her house start to shake and the fires of all the candles burn brighter and taller and Caroline's head starts to hurt more and more. She lets out a yell of pain as soon as Bonnie stops, the pressure and pounding in her head lessening again. Elena grips her shoulders tightly.

Bonnie looks at her worried and concerned. "Are you okay?"

Caroline rubs at her forehead, nodding. "Yeah. That... ow... that really hurt. Please tell me you got something from that."

"Yeah," Bonnie sighs, looking down at the necklace distastefully as if it insulted her. "We've got to go to New Orleans."

* * *

"Really? New Orleans?" Damon says sarcastically, the next afternoon when the boys decided it was time to have another pow-wow to figure out what they discovered while separated. "I wish we had some sort of clue, oh, I don't know, _yesterday _that we were supposed to do that, Bonnie. Thanks for a whole lot of nothing."

Caroline pulls her eyes away from the necklace that Bonnie told her she had to start wearing yesterday before she finally let her go to bed. Caroline was too tired at the time, but she did notice that when she put the necklace on, she started to feel better. Her headache went away and so did some of her fatigue. No doubt there was a good reason for it.

This morning she learned why. According to Bonnie, the necklace, Caroline and Jane-Anne Deveraux, probably, are all linked together. The necklace is taking energy from Caroline to help fuel the link, by keeping it on her, she's okay, but when she removes it, it begins absorbing her energy expediently. If she had kept it off for another day or so, Bonnie believes that Caroline would have started to desiccate. Unfortunately for Caroline, Bonnie can't unlike the three of them without all three being together.

Which is why they need to go to New Orleans.

Caroline sits on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest while Elena sitting next to her on one side, and Bonnie sits on the other. Liz is sitting in her armchair while Damon managed to get his hands on their liquor - and critique Liz and her taste while he was at it - and was standing in the doorway while Stefan leans against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. And Klaus stands on the opposite side of the room from Caroline, with his back to the windows, one arm across his ribs while the other hand cups his mouth and chin in thought.

Caroline and Klaus's eyes meet and she rests her chin on her knees. As the crowd argues with one another on whether or not there was something else that Bonnie could do, Caroline and Klaus just stare at each other. Since getting the necklace on her, she's been able to really think about all of this and all she can think about is that the only sure-fire way of getting to the bottom of all of this is to get to New Orleans.

They all know this, but no one wants to just straight-up admit that there was nothing else for them to do. They know that New Orleans is where they will get their answers, but it almost feels like defeat, admitting that there isn't any other choice.

"Klaus," Caroline says softly. He blinks to show he's listening. "Can you bring me to New Orleans?"

"What?" Damon says, ice blue eyes wide. "You're just going to go offer yourself up on a silver platter?"

"No," Caroline says, annoyed. She turns her eyes to his. She's perpetually exhausted and unable to really sleep and even though the worst part of the headache is over, she still feels the pulsing in the back of her skull and just thinking about eating makes her physically sick to her stomach. "No, Damon, I'm trying to get to the bottom of all of this. I'm tired and hurting and annoyed and sick and I'm done dealing with it. One day was too much. I'll walk to New Orleans if I have to and figure out what in the world that they want from me."

"So you're just going to walk down there and get trapped in the middle of this whole debacle by yourself?" Damon asks, dropping his drink down onto the coffee table in front of him.

"I'm not going to get trapped," Caroline says, wrapping her arms around her legs. "It's the next logical step."

"No, it's a stupid one," Damon snaps.

"Damon, stop," Stefan says, glaring at the side of his head. "I think what Damon is trying to say is that we need to be very careful in how we proceed. There has to be something we can do."

"There is," Caroline says, looking over at Klaus. "I know that you hate being given ultimatums, but I need you to take me there. If your pride won't let you do it because someone ordered you to, then please do it because I'm asking you to." She stares into his eyes. "Please, Klaus. I don't want to die, but I'm scared that I will. She only gave us a few days."

"Caroline," Liz says, her eyebrows pulling together. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" She sends a look at the Original in the room, distrustfully, before looking back over at her daughter. "I get that you are scared, but surely there must be something?"

"This is it," Caroline says, still staring into Klaus's eyes. "I'm right, aren't I?"

Klaus sucks in a deep, lungful of breath before letting it out, staring at her through long, thick lashes. He runs his fingers across his cheek, considering before he nods. "Yes. I suppose we must go." He drops his hands to his sides, walking across the room, around the table and sits down on it and reaches out with his hands, placing them on her knees to stare into her eyes. "I will take you to New Orleans, Caroline, and there I will see why they felt the need to go through all this trouble to get me there, and then I will tear them limb from limb."

Caroline crosses her legs and lowers them so that she can see him more clearly. "I'll settle with just figuring out why they did this. We aren't going to have a slaughter spree, Klaus. I just want to know why they did this to me and get them to undo it."

"You won't have to worry about that," Bonnie says, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm going to be coming with you."

"Bonnie," Caroline starts but Bonnie shakes her head to stop her.

"I'm not going to take no for an answer. Besides," Bonnie sends Klaus a flat look, "I don't trust leaving you alone with Klaus. Who knows what he could do to you?"

"We all know what he wants to do to you," Damon says, smiling wolfishly. Klaus has the drollest look on his face that Caroline would have found somewhat amusing if it hadn't been for the fact that she actually gave him what he wanted, she would have thought that was a pretty good one. But, well, here they are.

"Knock it off, Damon," Elena says, tucking long brown hair behind her ear.

"What? I'm right," Damon says, giving Elena that kicked-dog look that only makes Liz roll her eyes at the sight of it.

Still, try as she might, Caroline can't help but wonder what all they hope to gain from this. Caroline, as she's sure everyone else has started to guess by now, isn't the point of any of this. It's Klaus that these witches are after and they are using Caroline to do it. Caroline's sure there has to be another - easier - way of going about this, but this is the path they've chosen. Still, it sucks that it has to be about her. This is definitely an interesting way of catching Klaus's attention. They had no way of knowing that Klaus and she were sorta friends unless someone said something.

Unfortunately, with their track record, the person who could have spilled the beans could have been anyone. Somehow or another, people seem to like to start something around Caroline's friends, which she doesn't understand. Elena, Damon, Stefan and occasionally Bonnie seem to be at the epicenter of all their problems because someone is still holding onto a grudge or has a bone to pick with them, or wants to use their doppelganger blood for this or that, or wants to use her blood or magic for this spell because Bennett witch of the past did this - it is all insane.

"Bonnie," Caroline says, turning to look at her friend, ignoring that Klaus still had one of his hands on her knee, "thank you so much for being beautiful and wonderful and worrying about me, but don't. I'm okay. We're going to go down there, Klaus is going to puff out his chest and be the big scary Hybrid and then we are going to come back."

Klaus smiles lightly at that, but Bonnie shakes her head, eyebrows pulling together. "I don't know, Caroline. I think it's going to be more complicated than that. When I was trying to sever you from the link I felt something. Something powerful on the other side of it."

"What does that mean?" Stefan asks. "Something like another witch?"

Bonnie rubs her fingers together, looking like she's trying to summon the feeling again from the night before. She thinks about it for a moment, trying to find the words before deciding on, "Sort of. It felt strange though. Like it was a lot of witches. Not just one or two. It felt like... I don't know. A lot."

"How many is a lot, Bonnie?" Stefan asks. "Ten? Twenty?"

"Hundreds," Bonnie says. "It felt like hundreds."

"Ancestors," Klaus says, pulling away from Caroline and standing up, walking across the room once more to stare out the window. At everyone's confused looks, he elaborates, "Witches of New Orleans practice in ancestral magic, pulling energy from the witches before them that passed. They use this to stay linked together and as powerful as they are. A single witch cannot hope to combat the engage them on equal grounds. It isn't possible. Not even for our illustrious Bonnie Bennett." His smile is cold and angry, no doubt hating this more than anyone.

"Well, this sucks," Damon sighs. "So what now?"

"We go," Caroline sighs too, no more happy about this than he is. "Klaus and I will go to New Orleans and get this straightened out."

"Not alone," Stefan says, eyebrows pulling together tightly. "You're talking about going up against a coven of witches, that is not something that we've had any real experience in. And you're going alone. With Klaus? Plus, you're weak and only a year old as a vampire. I am well over a hundred and fifty. I'll come with you."

"And so will I," Bonnie says. "You're going to need my help anyway. A coven of witches or not, I'm the best chance you've got of breaking that spell."

"If Bonnie is going, I am too," Elena says.

"No!" Everyone yells at once, making the brunette jump, her brown eyes wide.

"I love you, Elena," Caroline says, "but you are a newer vampire than I am. If we're going, it should be a small group. Not a whole bunch of us." Caroline rubs at her forehead. "And besides, she told us to come alone."

Elena makes a face at Stefan and Damon. "Wait, what? No, she didn't, Caroline." She looks over at the blond beside her.

Caroline's eyebrows pull together as she stares at her friend, trying to recall yesterday with a bit more clarity seeing as after she got zapped everything felt like she was going through jello. "She didn't? Huh," she murmurs, raising her eyebrows toward her hairline. "The bad guys usually say that. Well, nevermind then. More the merrier, I guess."

**So, who all is going with them? Let me know!**


	3. Travel

**Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait! Thank you all for your kind words, I really appreciate it! I love hearing from all of you, it really encourages me to continue onward. Thank you for your support! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

Caroline got the joy of listening to her friends all to argue over who was going with her and why.

Stefan doesn't trust Klaus and thinks that he could use some backup. Damon doesn't trust Klaus and thinks that Stefan can't handle it alone. Bonnie doesn't trust Klaus and is the only one that can break the spell anyway. Elena doesn't trust Klaus and knows that Caroline is going to need a friend with some vampire strength. Liz doesn't trust Klaus and is Caroline's mother.

Needless to say, the key point all of them shared made Klaus roll his eyes every single time. It was honestly funny to hear each of them say almost the same thing. Klaus didn't appreciate everyone saying that but his annoyance seemed to wane a bit each time one of them said it and Caroline couldn't help the little giggle that escaped her. It sounds like to her that this is his fault that she's in this mess, the least he could do is accept this treatment with humility. And he does, which she appreciates.

"I'm going," Bonnie says, she holds her hands up. "Case closed."

"You and Klaus alone? Not going to happen," Elena says, her eyebrows pulled together tightly.

"I'll be fine," Bonnie says, not even bothering to look at the hybrid in question. Klaus raises his eyebrow, eyes flickering down to Caroline, who is now rolling her own with a smile on her lips. "I'm strong."

"And she's not alone," Caroline says. "Hello? Remember me? I'm going to be going too. How about we make this easy and Klaus and I just go? Save the debate."

"I'm impartial to that idea," Klaus says. She can see him smiling in his reflection of the window.

"Shut up," half the room chimes in. Klaus's smile doesn't fade. In fact, if anything, it widens and his eyebrows spring toward his hairline in his growing amusement. He's not dissuaded by their annoyance. He looks pleased and it is kind of funny to see. Okay, so maybe he didn't take it with all humility and grace. At least his revenge is PG. And she can get behind a bit of sass being thrown around.

That erupted into an argument between all of them. Caroline rolls her eyes again, leaning back into the couch again. This is going to be a long day. Especially when Liz stepped away to call into work saying that she wasn't going to make it in today. Caroline isn't sure how this is going to end, but all of them packing into her car and driving to New Orleans is going to be hellish.

* * *

This argument is unbelievable. So unbelievable, they had to take a two-hour recess in order to regain their strength and return to the ring. She grew so tired of it, she had to get up and walk away. Knowing it was inevitable, she sits down on her bed, pulling out her phone and doing a quick google search to see how long it would take to get from Virginia to New Orleans.

Fourteen hours.

So that's two outfits. And they are probably going to be in New Orleans for a week or so. So there are another seven outfits plus stuff for the night and back up outfits. She rubs at her forehead before searching for her suitcases. She likes having something else to focus on. Organizing outfits and checking the weather in New Orleans helps to distract her from the fatigue of her body. From the worry that is settling over her shoulders.

Naturally, growing tired of the squabbling of her friends, Klaus finds his way into her room and after a few failed attempts to talk to her, he just sits on her bed, next to her suitcase and watches as she plans out her clothes for the week. She would hold up a few shirts, "Long sleeve, sheer or short sleeve?" and actually listens to his advice. He doesn't appear genuinely interested in her outfit choices but must have realized that she needed the distraction.

As soon as she figured out her outfits for the percieved time away she set out to clean. Klaus didn't say anything, just watched quietly as she walked around her room, scrubbing and cleaning every inch of it. She reorganized her shelves, refolded all her clothes, got a box to throw out the clothes that she knows that she's not going to wear again.

She scoots over to the bed, next to his legs. She nudges his legs until he pulls them up onto the bed and crosses them Indian style. She starts pulling stuff out from under the bed; boxes mostly of stuff like trophies and photo albums. She scoots them out of the way and twists around and lays down onto her stomach and crawls under her bed, pushing out anything and everything under there. She wiggles further under the bed to push out all of it. She knows that now really isn't the time for any of this but she feels like she has to. She can't just sit around doing nothing.

As she's pushing things out she can hear Klaus digging around in her stuff.

"Stop touching, none of that is for you!" She yells half-heartedly, which no doubt sounds weak while she's on her stomach and chest and out of breath. That and if his girlish giggling is anything to go by.

"I'm not touching anything, love," Klaus lies easily as he continues to ruffle through her boxes. Caroline rolls her eyes and continues pushing out the last of the items collected beneath her bed before awkwardly wiggling back out, only to run her butt into Klaus's back.

"Are you kidding me? Move!"

"Alright, give me just a moment, love," Klaus says, sounding amused. She rolls her eyes again, turning around onto her back, bringing her leg up and nudging him in the center of his back, pushing into it hard.

"Klaus, move," Caroline snaps playfully, feeling a smile crossing her lips despite it all. She hates that he can make her smile, especially now when she's wound up like a coil. She knows he's trying to make her smile and that it's working. She scared and worried, but he's forcing levity on her to get her mind off of the scary situation that they are in. At least it's scary to her. This is probably just another walk in the park for Klaus.

She alternates feet pushing into his back. "Klaus, move or pull me out from under here. I'm not claustrophobic, but I will become such if I'm forced to stay under here." For a moment, Klaus doesn't move, then the next moment, he's spun around, hands wrapped around her ankles. "No, Klaus!" Caroline gasps, eyes wide. "Don't!"

He sends her a wicked smile before pulling her out, not seeming to care that he gave her rug burn on her back. She covers her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud. She can't make too much noise or people will come to investigate and if anyone sees her smiling at Klaus, then they are going to start asking questions she doesn't want them to ask, and that she doesn't want to answer.

He leans over her, one hand on either side of her head, his necklaces dangling between them with a sultry smile on his lips. He stares down at her for a long moment as the smile slowly fades from his full lips and he whispers so softly that no one but she could hear him, "Those that dare threaten you will pay dearly, Caroline. I won't let anyone harm you. You have my word."

Caroline doesn't respond, waiting a moment to listen to his heart beating steadily in tandem with the pulsing in his neck. Beyond that, she can still hear her mother and her friends talking in the other room. She stares at him for a second, listening to both of them breathe in sync with one another. Fear spikes in her chest and she stomps it down even though all she wants to do is cry. She's scared. She's so scared.

"Klaus," Caroline whispers, "I'm so scared my hands are shaking. I don't feel well and everything hurts. I just want to go to New Orleans, get rid of these witches and then come back here." She feels a tear slide out from the corner of her eye and slides into her hair. "I haven't been feeling the best for a while now and this is just one more thing that I don't want to worry about. I just want this to be over. I want to feel normal again."

Klaus opens his mouth, looking like he wants to say something, but then decides against it for now. "I will keep you safe, love."

Vulnerable and scared, she whispers, "You promise?"

"I promise."

He puts a hand on her forehead and helps her sit up before scooting back to what he's looking at. Caroline moves so that her back is against the frame of her bed, rubbing her face and thanking God that Klaus didn't point out her tears. He was content to pretend it didn't happen like she was. She swiped away the tears before setting to organize the stuff she pulled out from under the bed.

She scoots stuff around and pushes things into piles to be put back under the bed and thrown away and set aside for her mom to look through to see if they still wanted any of that. She can hear herself sign about a hundred times as she tries to drown out the discussion that they were _sweet lord still having in the other room, holy cow, _by sighing multiple times a second.

Caroline jumps when she feels Klaus's hand grab onto the chain around her neck, pulling the necklace out from beneath her shirt. "You scared me," Caroline says, eyebrows pulling together. "What?"

She stares at him as he pulls the cursed pendant out of her shirt to really look at it for a moment. He studies it closely before pulling up a family photo album to look at the picture in it. Caroline leans in close to look at it before realizing he was looking at a picture of her great grandmother on her father's side wearing the same necklace that she is. She jerks back a bit, looking over at Klaus.

"That's the necklace!" She digs around in her pocket and pulls out her phone quickly taking a picture of the photo and then sending it to her grandmother, asking about the necklace. She sets her phone on her lap so she can feel it when it vibrates, scooting over a bit so Klaus can lean against her bed next to her. She grabs a different photo album and starts looking for her great grandmother.

"It's my great grandmother Angelica Forbes, My grandfather Joseph Forbes's mom and my dad's great grandmother. I can't believe that she had this necklace. Does that make it a family heirloom?" She looks over at Klaus, her shoulder pressed against his.

"Perhaps," Klaus says, distracted, staring at another picture of her great grandmother. It's a better one. She's in a nice, long sleeve white turtle neck in her fifties, making the red jewel stand out against it. He looks at it closely before looking over at Caroline, holding out the necklace to inspect again.

Caroline's phone vibrates. She digs under the photo album to grab her phone and see it's a response from her grandmother.

"What does it say?" Klaus asks.

"She said, it was grandma's necklace she got from grandpa as an engagement necklace when they originally got married in the twenties. It's something that was passed through the Forbes family for generations but went missing after Grandma Angelica died like ten years ago." Caroline messages her back, asking where she passed and what happened before looking over at Klaus. "Do you think this has anything to do with what's going on? I mean, it's odd that my grandmother's necklace would just reappear as the tool for some witch's spell, right? That can't be a coincidence."

"No, I doubt it was a coincidence, love," Klaus says. "Now I'm curious to see how it ended up in the hands of witches in New Orleans."

Caroline's phone buzzes. She looks down at it, reading the message before she turns it toward Klaus to read, "Well, it just so happens my grandmother Angelica died in New Orleans. She had a family home out there."

They both stare at each other.

"I'm going to grab Bonnie," Caroline says, eyebrows pulled together. "We'll stop by her house, grab whatever she needs and yours if you need anything and then we are going to get out of here. I'm tired and nauseous and want to get this over with."

Klaus nods, closing the photo album while Caroline closes hers, placing it on the floor next to her. She goes to stand up and literally doesn't have the strength and just falls back onto her bottom. She blinks a few times, looking up at Klaus, who was frowning down at her. He steps over her, holding out his hands for her to take. She reaches out and takes them, letting him help her to her feet. She falls into him, her head spinning.

"Caroline?" He whispers into her ear.

"Klaus," Caroline whispers back, placing her cheek against his. "I feel so weak. I hardly have any energy. I hate feeling like this. I hate that if I take this stupid necklace off I'm going to be even weaker. I haven't felt like this... since I got the flu when I was nine."

Klaus's expression darkens, but his voice is even as he says, "No doubt a perk of the spell cast on you, love."

"Bonnie said the necklace was sapping my energy. Why? Because I'm a vampire and the closer I edge toward desiccation, the more riled you'll become?" She makes a face at him. "Desiccation won't kill me."

"No," Klaus agrees, "but it will make me mad."

Caroline rolls her eyes, finally pulling back slowly. She feels like his arms are the only thing that is supporting her right now. "Jane-Anne said that I would... die by the end of the week? Is this how it's going to happen? It's just going to keep absorbing the magic from me until I die? Is that how it is?" She stares into his eyes. As soon as the questions left her lips, she realized that she didn't want the answer to that. "Never mind. It's a fourteen-hour drive. We should get going."

Klaus presses his lips tightly together. He nods, holding her steady for a moment before finally letting her go. He starts grabbing her bags and heads for the door. Caroline follows after, placing her hand against the wall to help keep her steady. Keeping this necklace on isn't helping her a whole lot. Her headache isn't as bad as it was last night, but she's feeling more and more exhausted as time goes on.

Caroline makes it down the stairs and into the living room, looking around at her friends. "Klaus and I are leaving."

All heads turn toward her and immediately everyone starts talking. Well, more like yelling. Each one of them trying to talk over the other.

"I'm going," Bonnie says, waving around to make the room to make them quiet. "I am the only one that can break the spell."

Caroline nods, pretending that she's convinced. "Okay, Bonnie's in. Everyone else, stay here."

"Caroline," Liz says, walking over to her. She looks her up and down, noting how the wall is barely holding her up as it was. "I'm coming with you. I'm your mother, I can't just ignore someone coming after your life."

Caroline shakes her head. "Mom, they need you here. Who is going to keep the peace around here if you don't? Besides, we're dealing with witches. I think they are a little bit beyond your paygrade." Caroline smiles lightly at her mother. "I know that you're worried about me, but I'm going to be okay. Bonnie is the strongest witch in the world, she's going to keep me safe, and Klaus... well, nothing has ever kept him down for long. I'll be okay, I promise. And I'll call you every day."

Liz looks ready to refuse again but then seems to see the rational part of her argument. Relenting, she says, "Call me, every day. And if something goes wrong, you are coming home immediately, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Caroline says, saluting with two fingers to her mom before accepting the hug that Liz offers. "I'm going to be okay, mom," she whispers in Liz's ear, hugging her close.

"I'm coming too," Stefan says, pushing away from the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "It's only logical. Bonnie and I should go. Bonnie with the magic and me with the muscle. We can't have everyone there. It's not smart. If we are dealing with psycho witches that are using Caroline to get to Klaus, we need to have some power in our back pocket."

Caroline wasn't against the idea of Stefan coming along. He was her best guy friend and they're pretty close. She wouldn't mind having him along for backup. And he would be a good reminder not to get too close to Klaus. Despite what happened earlier between the two of them, and the night of the Mikaelson Gala, she's going to keep a safe distance from Klaus. They are going to be, at most, friends.

"Just abandon Caroline when she needs me?" Elena says, walking up to Stefan, brown eyes wide. "No! That's not going to happen. I'm not going to abandon her."

"You're aren't abandoning me," Caroline says, pulling away from Liz to look at her friend. "You're just... waiting for my signal." She smiles between her mother and her friend. "If we need someone to sneak up on these witches, we'll have you and Damon, Elena."

"No..." Elena's eyebrows pull together tightly, shaking her head.

"I'll be okay, Elena, I promise. With Bonnie and Stefan there, I'll be great."

* * *

Caroline packed like she was going to be gone for a month, as opposed to a little over a week, so it only made sense that they would drive in two cars. Caroline didn't have the strength to argue so she just said that she and Klaus would drive together and Bonnie and Stefan would drive together. Caroline didn't even slightly help pack up her stuff in the car, having lost all strength.

They swung by Klaus's house to get his stuff and everything in order while she lay, basically comatose in the car while he did. She managed to build up enough strength while dozing in the car to get out of the passenger side and go lay down on the couch while Klaus walks around the house gathering things that he needed and just stared over the arm of the couch as he walked in and out of the house.

She hadn't realized that she fell asleep until she felt Klaus's hand on her head, petting her hair down.

"It's time to go now, love."

Caroline had to force herself to open her eyes and stand up, using the couch, and then Klaus for support. In hindsight, it was probably silly of her to come inside when she was so tired. She just forced Klaus to help her back out into the car. After that, she got to have acid dreams of Klaus, Stefan, and Bonnie talking while she slipped in and out of slumber.

She thought it was dumb that she ended up insisting on bringing her nice jell pillow. Now she's happy that she did. The jell was staying nice and cool against her head, which has since started to hurt. Occasionally she would open her eyes, move around or wake up enough to just stare vacantly out the windshield or side window. Klaus would speak softly to her, sometimes gently touching her forehead or hand, whenever she moved. At some point, she blasted the air conditioning to hopefully help ease her headache seeing as medicine wasn't going to help her.

After some time, Caroline felt Bonnie's hand on her head. Her other hand has turned off the air conditioning as the car is now an icebox, but at least Caroline's head is starting to feel better. Then again, that might have been because she was able to get a bit of sleep.

"Hey, Care? Are you hungry? We're at a gas station. Do you want anything to eat?"

"No," Caroline says, adjusting where her head rests on her pillow. "Thanks, though."

Bonnie tucks some hair behind Caroline's ear. "How about blood? Stefan brought some and I'm sure that Klaus probably did too."

Caroline shakes her head slightly, opening her eyes to see Bonnie sitting on the driver's side where Klaus was the last time she opened her eyes. She blinks a few times, trying to correct the confusion in her brain for Klaus turning into Bonnie. She rubs at her forehead a few times before pulling away from the window to look over at her friend.

"No, I'm not hungry. Or thirsty. How long have we been on the road?" She rolls her stiff shoulders back and then her neck around to relieve some of the stress building up in both spots.

"Five hours," Bonnie says, staring at her, worriedly. "Klaus says that you've been sleeping the whole time. How do you feel?"

"Tired," Caroline admits, twisting the seatbelt a bit from where it was digging into her neck. "God it's like this link is draining the energy right out of me." Bonnie opens her mouth and Caroline holds up her hand to stop her. "No, I know that it is. I'm just saying it to be dramatic."

Bonnie presses her lips together tightly, nodding. "Are you sure you don't want anything? I can grab you whatever you want. How about water? Or chips of some sort?" She looks desperate for Caroline to just ask for something but all Caroline wanted was the close her eyes and the next time she opened them, they would be in New Orleans and she could figure out what the hell was going on.

She shakes her head. "I just want to lay down." She lets out a sigh, feeling her headache get worse. "And I want all of this to be over."

Bonnie looks at her, worriedly. "I know." She reaches out and caresses her shoulder. "I'll grab you a variety of stuff for you to snack on, okay? Go to the bathroom or something. Get out of this car, you're going to have plenty of time to be in it on the road. And Klaus probably won't stop again until I'm dying behind the wheel on the road, but Stefan needs a break, he didn't get enough sleep these last few nights."

Caroline frowns, that has been the first that she's heard of it. She nods at Bonnie. "Okay. Just grab some stuff I'll munch on whatever. Is Stefan inside?"

Bonnie nods. "Do you need help?"

Caroline shakes her head, pulling her pillow from where she pinned it with her body to the window and throws it into the backseat before pulling herself out of the car with Bonnie climbing out the other side after pulling out the keys to Klaus's car and handing them off to the tall blond. Caroline feels like she's walking in slow motion past the gas station parking lot. She waves Bonnie off when the shorter girl tries to help her.

She makes her way to the bathroom, realizing that Bonnie was probably right about not getting another chance with Klaus at the helm of their "adventure" there probably wasn't another break in the near future. And this was actually a nice, clean gas station, Better utilize it while she can. She washes her hands and splashes water onto her face to hopefully wake herself up a bit.

She walks out of the bathroom and spots Stefan right away. He's disinterestedly looking around the shelves of junk food and soda. She slow-motion walks over to him. "Have you heard from Damon and Elena?"

Stefan looks over at her, offering a thin smile. "Hey, Care. How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted, you?" Caroline says, leaning back against one of the racks, being careful not to put too much weight on it, seeing as it probably isn't super steady.

"I'm okay," he says and Caroline doesn't believe him or the dark circles under his eyes for a second. "As for Damon and Elena, yes. I've heard from them. Elena is worried about you. I'll spare you the details and the numerous calls." The smile becomes a bit more genuine.

"Sorry," Caroline says, letting out a long sigh. "I'm sure my phone is on the floor of Klaus's car. I'll dig it out and text her while we're on the road." Caroline stares at him as he looks around at the stacks of chips. "Bonnie told me that you haven't been sleeping well. Does this have anything to do with Elena?" He gives her a sideways look. "Okay, so it has everything to do with Elena. Got it."

"Caroline, it's fine, I'm fine." Stefan turns to face her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about any of that. You look terrible. Get some rest and once we get to New Orleans, we'll figure out how to undo this curse or unlink you or whatever, and we'll be well on our way back to Mystic Falls where the center of the galaxy is the Salvatores and Elena."

Caroline laughs, shaking her head. "It kind of feels like that sometimes, doesn't it?"

Stefan's smile is more genuine. "I swear, it does."

Caroline touches his shoulder. "I'm going to go wait in the car. I am exhausted. I guess I'll see you next pit stop?"

"Yeah..." Stefan says slowly. Caroline turns and walks away, only making it a few steps before he says, "Are you okay? With Klaus, I mean. I can ride with him for a while and you and Bonnie can drive my car if you need to."

Caroline turns to her friend, shaking her head. "I'm okay. Besides, I've been sleeping the whole time. I'm not bothered. Keep Bonnie company for me, okay? I'm not the best at that right now." She waves her hand and heads out. She looks out over the setting sun, wondering if they were going to drive through the night or if they were going to find a hotel or something to sleep in, but Caroline's starting to doubt that they will. Especially the way all of them - Bonnie and Stefan in the store, while Klaus is standing by his car, filling it with gas and talking on his phone - watch her walk agonizingly slow to the car, climb into the back and barely manage to put on her seatbelt before laying down on the seat with her pillow and falling asleep.

She woke up to Klaus climbing into the car and remembered to dig around in her pocket for his keys before holding them out for him to take. "I could drive for a bit if you wanted."

He takes them from her. "Unfortunately, love, I would like for my car to actually make it to New Orleans. So, next time, perhaps."

Good, she wasn't even really willing to wake up anyway. And he probably figured that she wouldn't be able to stay awake anyway so perhaps it was all for the best. She is content to closing her eyes once more and falling asleep.

* * *

The trip is a painful blur. Every time they stopped, Caroline was bothered into eating or drinking something, but she couldn't. She was so nauseous that she could eat anything - including blood, which she just threw up all over Stefan and Klaus's shoes once they finally managed to guilt her into drinking some. Just to regain some of her strength and to help slow down the onset of desiccation that will arrive within the next few days but she couldn't keep it down.

Needless to say, Klaus looked absolutely murderous. And their breaks became far more scarce.

Caroline just laid in the backseat feeling the pins and needles in her throat creep up bit by bit as the sun came back up and rose high into the sky. She's pretty sure that at some point Bonnie let Stefan take over driving and both boys drove so fast, breaking every speed limit law all the way to New Orleans. She's pretty sure they made really good time and somehow managed to make it without getting caught by the police. But once they got close to New Orleans, Caroline finally started to feel better.

She still slept until they were inside the city and had to abandon the cars. Caroline, Stefan, and Bonnie stayed behind while Klaus went into New Orleans to figure out who Jane-Anne Deveraux and where to find her. Caroline was finally able to keep a bit of blood down - not nearly as much as she needed, but enough to give her a touch of strength.

They were waiting on the outskirts when Caroline decided to stop going all James Bond about this and pulls up her recent calls on her phone and calls back Jane-Anne, realizing she didn't want to wait for Klaus to figure it out.

"Hello?"

"Jane-Anne Deveraux?" Caroline says, looking between Bonnie and Stefan. "This is Caroline Forbes. Well, I'm here. Where should we meet?"

Stefan pulls out his phone to call Klaus.

There is a silence before she says, "I'll text you the location. You got the Hybrid?"

Caroline's eyebrows pull together slightly but don't question it. Although, Jane-Anne's voice sounds a little bit different than she remembers. But then again, Caroline wasn't exactly in the best situation the last time. Maybe it's just her. "Yeah. I got him." She looks up to see Stefan nodding her head.

Caroline hangs up and looks between Stefan and Bonnie. "I'll go. Stay here. We'll scope out the situation. Just... keep your phones on you."

"Are you sure that you're going to be okay?" Bonnie asks, her eyebrows pulling together tightly. "You're exhausted."

Caroline nods, swallowing the pins and needles. "I'll be okay. Klaus will be with me."

Caroline's phone goes off, a text message with a location on it. Caroline forwards it to Klaus. She lets out a long drawn out sigh, hoping that this wasn't too far away before Stefan stuffs his phone into his pocket.

"I'll lead the way," he says, looking at the location. "Lafayette cemetery. I think I know where that is. I'll lay low. I just need to make sure you and Klaus meet up again, then I'll come back. Will you be alright for a bit, Bonnie?" The witch nods. "Alright," he turns to Caroline. "Let's go."


	4. It's okay

**Author's Note: I'm sorry about the long wait! I'm kinda feeling this chapter, so I hope you all are too! It's probably because it's hella late and I am super tired, so we'll see how I feel in the morning, but for now, I'm happy! Thank you all for your kind words so far! I love hearing them, they really inspire me to keep going! I hope you continue to enjoy!**

"You're an absolute fool," Caroline says as soon as Klaus steps up next to her and Stefan on their way to Lafayette Cemetary. "I just called her and she told me where to meet her."

Klaus gives Stefan a look before leaning in close to Caroline, like that would somehow prevent Stefan from hearing them. "I'll have you know that I wasn't just looking for this Jane-Anne Deveraux. I'm getting a feel for the city. It has been a hundred years since I was last here."

Caroline didn't know about all of that, but she was willing to just let it go. She was too tired and weak to really care. She looks over at Stefan. "I think we'll be okay from here, Stefan. Please make sure that Bonnie is okay." Caroline slowly pulls away from Stefan, making sure that she still had her footing beneath her before Klaus wraps an arm around her waist and she leans on his shoulder. "I don't like her being alone here."

"Are you sure that you're going to be okay?" Stefan asks.

Caroline nods. "I'll be okay."

Stefan nods slowly, casting a look over at Klaus before saying to Caroline, "I'll go back. Call me if you need me."

They walk - or Klaus practically carries her with how slowly she's moving and how heavily she's leaning on the hybrid - toward the Cemetary in silence. Caroline thinks about the night of October 22nd. That was almost four months ago. The night of the Mikaelson Gala. She only really remembers it so well because it was the day she super betrayed her own friends and never confessed to it. She felt bad for never telling her own best friends about what happened, but she knew how her friends felt about Klaus and while on any given day she would typically agree with them.

But everything really changed with Silas.

"I never got to say anything after everyone came back from the Silas island. After everything that happened to us these last few months I never really got around to thanking you," Caroline says, knowing that now really isn't the time, but feels like she can't ignore what no one else knows about but her. After all that they've been through, the least that she could do is say thank you.

"What are you thanking me for?" Klaus asks, blue eyes scanning the streets before them. New Orleans is pretty busy. The streets are bustling as people walk about enjoying the sights.

He sounds genuinely surprised by her having anything to thank him for. His attention is focused on the world around them, keeping a close eye for witches hiding behind corners or in dark alleys waiting for the proper moment to strike out at them. He is way too paranoid to go into this blind, especially since he's watching Caroline's back since she's too weak to even hold her own body standing let alone watch her own back.

"I never told them," Caroline says softly. Klaus looks over at her, staring through long lashes. "I never told my friends that I let you leave to chase after them to the island. After what happened with Kol... I mean after Jeremy killed Kol..." He blinks slowly, staring at her for a moment before looking forward. "You saved him. No one knows. None of my friends. Just me. Silas was going to kill him but you saved him, and never told anyone. You were never thanked for it."

"I think you're reading too far into this," Klaus says. "I wanted to remove the Gilbert boy from the ancient immortal psychic's control. How was I to know what he would do with the Hunter?"

Caroline shakes her head slowly. She leans into his side a bit more, a yawn forcing its way from her lips. She's ready to go back to bed. Obviously, she knows that she can't. She's got to see this Jane-Anne Deveraux and see what in the world they want from her - or more likely Klaus - and start plotting their way out of this situation.

"I'm not," Caroline says, resting her head on his shoulder as what little bit of energy she had is being sapped from her once more. "And I don't know what Silas would have done with Jeremy other than kill him. And Elena would be without a brother. Like you were without Kol. Yet you saved him." Caroline looks at the side of Klaus's head, recognizing the look that plays across his face. It's the sadness, the brokenheartedness, the pain, but also that feeling of resolution as well. He has accepted the hand dealt to him.

Klaus doesn't respond, lips pressing together in a thin line. His eyes fall to the cobblestone path beneath their feet. He's thinking about her words, thankfully and hopefully he can hear the sincerity in what she's said. He may not think she should thank him, or have asked for it, but at least he's thinking about it carefully.

"You can't fool me, Klaus Mikaelson," Caroline says softly, turning her eyes toward the Lafeyette Cemetary archway, seeing the maze of tombs and monuments to the dead beyond. "I know that you aren't always the big, bad wolf."

"You must be delusional, Caroline," Klaus mutters, hard glare falling into place as he prepares to face the witches, "but that is something we will deal with at a later date. For now, the witches of New Orleans."

Someone steps into their path. A woman in her mid-thirties with long brown hair and eyes. Her steps are slow and purposeful. Her posture strong and sure, but there is a nervousness in the way she grips her hands at her stomach. Her eyes find Klaus right away and she looks terrified but hides it well. Even from where they are, Caroline can see the way her throat tightens at the sight of him. The creases that form between her eyes and the fear that lay bear there. It's not a surprise that she's afraid.

Klaus... has that sort of effect on people.

Then her eyes find Caroline and the softest expression crosses over her face. Klaus stops about five feet from the witch.

"You... must be Caroline," the woman says. "Are you in pain?"

Caroline doesn't want to think about the ache of the body or the pain in her head. "I am Caroline. Are you Jane-Anne Deveraux?" She asks, ignoring the last question.

The woman nods slowly. "Yes. I am Jane-Anne. Come. You must be exhausted."

* * *

Caroline blinks a few times slowly wondering if she's seeing things, or if her mind is playing tricks on her for being tired and in pain. "Am I going crazy or... is that Elijah Mikaelson?"

"Your mental stability is not what is in question at the moment, Caroline," Klaus says, pulling away from her so that she can lean on the closest wall for support. She gives him an annoyed look as he marches across the small - ...room? She didn't know what to call it - to where Elijah is standing next to Jane-Anne Deveraux, the witches parting like the red sea before him. "The only question I have right at this very moment is; what are you, my dear brother, doing here in New Orleans?" His eyes narrow dangerously, basically answering Caroline's question.

"Peace, Niklaus," Elijah says, holding up a hand whimsically as if that alone had enough power to stop the raging bull that typically is Klaus Mikaelson. "I was informed of the threat to your life and came to investigate. The witches have been telling me the most peculiar tale. And they were just getting to the good part, I'm sure, when you showed up."

Klaus stares into his brother's eyes for a long moment before finally turning toward Jane-Anne. "Well, out with it then. What do you want from Caroline and me?"

Jane-Anne kneads her hands at her stomach looking like she's trying to build up the courage to speak with the eyes of both Mikaelson brothers turning their eyes toward her. She steels herself, lifting her chin slightly, before looking over at Caroline.

"I suppose I should start with you, Ms. Forbes. That necklace you wear, it belongs to your great grandmother Angelica Forbes," Jane-Anne says slowly. Caroline already realized that but didn't say a word, waiting for her to continue. "You should know that your family is cursed, Ms. Forbes, with the inability to carry children to term."

Caroline stares at her, blinking rapidly. She's never heard of that before. "We do?"

Jane-Anne nods. "Yes. Your ancestor on your great grandfather's side came to the New Orleans witches, my family, to be exact to conduct a spell that would strengthen themselves and allow them to carry strong children to term. It saps the energy of the mother to make the child stronger so that it can survive. So it isn't uncommon for women in your grandmother's bloodline who wear that necklace to grow weak over the course of their pregnancy. Their strength being used to keep the child strong."

Well, that was a piece of family history that Caroline didn't know. It's certainly interesting, but Caroline had underestimated how old this necklace was. She looks down at the bright red jewel, running her fingers across it for a moment before looking up at Jane-Anne. "That... is kind of interesting, I'll admit that, but what does that have to do with me? Why am I exhausted from wearing a necklace that drains the energy of the parent to strengthen an unborn child?"

Her questions are met with absolute silence. Klaus, who in the middle of Jane-Anne's explanation of the necklace turned to look at it, was now staring at Caroline's face before something crosses his features. A strange look of confusion and disbelief, before looking over at Jane-Anne, his lips parting but no sound coming out.

Even Elijah looks confused, crossing one arm over her chest while cupping his chin with the other, looking over at Caroline curiously. Dark eyes were darker still with disbelief.

Caroline raises her eyebrows. "What? Was that a dumb question? Why isn't anyone saying anything?" She looks around at the two Mikaelson brothers and the gaggle of witches that were present, all staring at either her or anything but her. Caroline forced herself to straighten up against the wall to preserve some of her dignity.

"Caroline," Jane-Anne says, pulling the blond's eyes to her. She gestures to the young brunette next to her, "this is my sister, Sophie. She has the innate ability to know when someone is pregnant. And she saw you. Forbes women have a harder time carrying children on a normal day, but you, being human and carrying the child of the Original Hybrid? Your energy is being sapped far greater than normal."

Jane-Anne's voice falls into silence and all Caroline could do was hear her blood roaring in her ears and watch as Klaus and Elijah both turn to look at one another very,_ very _slowly. So many different things cross her mind at once, yet she's not sure which to dwell on first. Her lips part and she says, "But I'm not - " _human, _is on the tip of her tongue when her eyes find both Elijah and Klaus both staring at her, shaking their head very slowly to stop her from finishing her sentence. If for some unspoken reason they thought that she was human, the brothers were willing to let them believe that.

"But I'm not pregnant," Caroline decides on. "I can't be pregnant. And who's the fictional dad? What, Klaus?" She snorts hard enough for it to both hurt and wakes her up a bit more. She laughs dryly, shaking her head in disbelief. "Let's start with the very obvious fact that he's dead, and had their been some sort of magical reason for him to be able to have kids, he's probably the proud father of at least half a dozen football teams at this point."

Klaus blinks slowly, casting her a furrow-browed look that she didn't know how to interpret. She said it in part to make a point, and to be a bit funny, but there is a stab of pain to her chest at her own words. She pushes the feeling away, not wanting to offer the feeling more thought than the brief moment it was offered.

Elijah's lips quirk slightly at that before falling flat. Well, at least someone found it funny.

"He wasn't always this way," Jane-Anne says while Sophie purses her lips to stop from smiling at that too. "But something recently changed, hasn't it?"

Caroline stares at her, trying to get her befuddled mind to pinpoint what changed. Her brain just about latched onto it, when Elijah says, "He broke the werewolf curse."

She blinks a few times, that logic making some kind of sense. She supposed that was a huge magical change that recently occurred. Still, she clings to anything that would somehow prove to them and herself that they've got the wrong girl and this lunacy was nearing its end. Caroline mentally calculated the amount of time between when Klaus broke the curse and now.

"Okay, so it's been a minute since then, we spent one night together," Caroline admits, feeling weird for having to say that like she was owning up to something bad. She hasn't said it to anyone before and yet here she was owning up to it in front of a room full of strangers probably trying to kill her and the older brother of the man in question. "But Klaus has probably slept with other people. Why are you zeroing in on me? Klaus, just tell them who else you've been with so we can go home and they can harass these other girls because I'm not pregnant."

Elijah turns his dark eyes toward his brother as Klaus stares down at the ground, his eyebrows pulled together tightly. His lips press into a line as he avoids the gaze of everyone in the room.

"Klaus, tell them," Caroline says, pushing away from the wall to stare at the ancient hybrid. "Klaus. Oh come on, look at me. Klaus!"

Klaus blinks rapidly, still staring at the ground. Caroline thought for a moment he was trying to recall the number of people that he's been with, probably trying to recall if it was before or after he broke his curse, which really annoyed her.

But slowly, he raises his eyes so very slowly to look over at Caroline, lips pressing tighter together still, swallowing thickly. When he finally manages to let his eyes meet hers she finally knows the truth written across face. He stares back at her without uttering a word but his silence speaks volumes. There isn't anyone else. His pursuit of her hasn't been half-hearted.

"Klaus..." Caroline says, eyebrows pulling together. She's not sure what she thinks about this. She's not sure if she has any right to think about it. Klaus wasn't hers. He was free to do whatever - and whoever - he wanted. She didn't have any sort of say in whatever it was that tickled his fancy. She blinks a few times before turning to Jane-Anne. "You know what? Never mind. I'm not pregnant. I would know if I was."

"Have you been having your period?" Sophie asks.

Caroline's eyebrows quirk up at the personal question. "No," she admits, "but that's not because of pregnancy." _It's because I'm dead. _

"Well, the lack of energy that you have is proof enough for us that you are pregnant," Jane-Anne says, "and Sophie can sense who the father is. But there is something else that we can do to prove it if you want."

"Yes," Caroline says, crossing her arms over her chest. "And when it shows that I'm not pregnant, then you unlink my life to this necklace and let me go home." The witches all look at one another. Caroline sucks in a deep breath. "Deal?"

Jane-Anne looks between the witches, the brothers, and then turns her dark eyes toward Caroline. "Okay. We have a deal."

There is a touch of relief, sure that she wasn't going to turn out pregnant, especially since they hedge about 98% of this entire thing on the fact that for some reason they think that she's human, which is insane. "Okay. So how do we do it? Some sort of magic spell?"

Jane-Anne nods, digging into the pocket of her coat. "Yes, I have a spell that will prove the father is who we suspect but I have a simple, magic-free way to prove it that you can't dispute."

Caroline blinks a few times. "How?"

Jane-Anne pulls out two pregnancy tests still in their boxes.

* * *

"I have been sick and exhausted these last few days," Caroline says, walking back into the circle of witches with the two Mikaelson brother standing a few feet away watching the witches closely. Klaus perks up a bit when she walks back into the room. "I have hardly drunk any water so the fact that I was able to generate enough pee for two pregnancy is really impressive."

Klaus didn't want her to go alone, and honestly, she didn't really either, but at the same time, she wasn't sure how to look at him. They put some insanely bad juju into the air and she's not sure how to look at him. She's sure she heard Jane-Anne and Klaus arguing when she initially left all the way up until she came back. He thought that this was all lunacy too. He thought that she was being insane and he wanted her to give him a good reason to not tear all the witches of New Orleans to shreds for thinking that they could get away with threatening him.

Elijah managed to convince Klaus to stay his hand until they learn more.

Jane-Anne holds her hand out for the pregnancy tests but Caroline clutches them close to her, trying not to think about what was inside them. "No. I'll hold onto them until it's time."

Jane-Anne drops her hand and nods. "Okay. That's fair."

"So, while we wait," Elijah says as Caroline ignores Klaus staring at the side of her head, "why don't you tell us why it was so important to you to go through all these hoops to get my brother to New Orleans?"

"We need you, Klaus Mikaelson," Sophie says, drawing Klaus's eyes toward her. His expression is dark and angry. He does not like to be told what to do. At all. And Caroline knows this very well.

"Our city is being held by the throat by none other than Marcel Gerard," Jane-Anne says, casting her sister a sideways glance.

Klaus and Elijah share a look with one another. "Marcel?" Elijah asks, surprised. "The vampire Marcel?"

"Who's Marcel?" Caroline asks, but everyone ignores her.

"He's not the same person you left behind," one of the other witches says. "He's got a death grip on the witches and we need your help."

And then they set to arguing. Klaus against the witches, Elijah against the witches, then Klaus against Elijah. Caroline just watches trying to understand the situation when she remembered the sticks in her hands. She pulls them up to look at and feels her blood run cold as all of the sounds of bickering around her start to fade away as if she was walking further and further down a dark tunnel and all she can see is the two little lines on each saying that she's pregnant.

Sh's not sure how long she was staring at the sticks, but the sound of Jane-Anne's sister's voice pulls her back into her body with the softest, most certain, "Congratulations. You're pregnant."

Caroline looks up to see Sophie staring back at her as the room falls quiet once more. Klaus and Elijah both turn to look at her.

"It doesn't say your pregnant, does it?" Klaus asks blue eyes were blown wide in disbelief. "You can't be pregnant..."

Caroline feels her hands go completely cold and numb as the sticks fall from her fingertips. Tears of fear and confusion slide down her cheeks as she tries to wrap her mind around what is happening.

"It's time," Jane-Anne says, more to the collected witches than to Caroline as she walks across the room to the blond, reaching out and placing her hand on Caroline's stomach.

Caroline raises her eyes toward Jane-Anne and is surprised by what she sees. The compassion, the sadness, the resolution. She feels pity for Caroline for being in this situation - whether it be because Klaus is the father or that her child now links her to the situation that they are in - but she's bound by what she has to do and steels herself to push down whatever she's feeling to do what she must.

And Caroline sees in her eyes the eyes of a mother. The tenderness and sadness there. Like a mother, who is staring down at her child and accepting that sometimes shitty things happen and she simply must allow it to.

"Forbes women have a tough time carrying human children," Jane-Anne says, "so if we are being honest, I'm surprised that you were able to keep the baby alive for as long as you have. This necklace will help it survive but by doing so, it will continue to sap your strength. Thankfully, the power of New Orleans will assist in keeping both of you alive. But I am sorry. You will progressively grow weaker the further along you go. As the baby grows in strength the more it will drain from you.

"In a normal human pregnancy, it would simply make you fatigued most of the time, but you are carrying a supernatural baby. It holds Mikaelson blood in it, which means magic. It's going to be a little witch, I think. And so it draws more energy still. But it could also be a werewolf. Or perhaps both. Either way, this child will consume massive amounts of energy and being here, in New Orleans, will alleviate some of the pressure on your body, which is why it was essential for you to come here," Jane-Anne says.

Caroline looks down at the hand on her stomach, unable to even think about moving. "But... I don't look pregnant. If Klaus... if he's the father..." She can feel herself shaking. "He would have to be. The last time I was with Tyler was a long time ago. But Klaus being the father would mean that I... I'm like four months along. I'm not... big." Admittedly, she had gained a bit of weight from her crazy eating habits, but she's been so stressed about everything going on lately; Elena turning into a vampire, Silas, Tyler still being MIA after the Hybrid revolt, school and everything else, she's been more than just stress eating. More like stress gorging.

"The baby isn't growing fast enough," Jane-Anne says tenderly. "Your womb is not a hospitable environment."

Okay, Jane-Anne has been pretty nice thus far but every time she says that Caroline's womb - and that of the women in her family - is not a hospitable environment, Caroline gets this vision of her womb being a freaking desert of outer space or a warzone or something. She has got to stop saying that. It was kind of hurting before, but Caroline had accepted that she was never going to have children when she died and became a vampire, but now that she knows that she is pregnant and could still lose the baby because the women in her family can hardly carry human children let alone supernatural ones, is really stressing her out.

"Now that the baby is getting energy and strength, it should start to grow, and rapidly," Jane-Anne says comfortingly. Caroline isn't sure that is going to make her feel better either.

Baby? She can't have a baby! This is completely insane!

"I can't believe this," Caroline whispers, feeling like her world is crashing down around her.

"Now," Jane-Anne says, sucking in a deep breath. "I am going to perform a spell that will use the baby's magical essence to call out to both parents. It will leave a small, heart-shaped mark on the hand of each parent so we will be able to know for certain. If we are wrong, then the mark won't show up on Mr. Mikaelson."

"How can we trust this?" Elijah asks carefully seeing as Klaus can't stop staring, wide-eyed at Caroline's face with his mouth hanging open. An entire wave of different emotions passing over his face every second as he tries to come up with some sort of understanding of the situation.

"The spell is linked only to the child," Jane-Anne says. "It will use the child's magic to mark the parents. It's a temporary spell that will fade in a few minutes but it will tell us if we were right, or wrong. I won't even go near the hybrid." And Jane-Anne doesn't appear as though she's worried they might be wrong. Which, technically, Caroline isn't either. She knows who she slept with and in the last year, it's been Tyler and Klaus. And if it had been Tyler, there was no way she wouldn't already be showing at this point. No... maybe it's been long enough that she would have given birth already? She's not sure anymore. She can't think straight.

So Jane-Anne places both hands on Caroline's stomach and starts to chant something in a language she doesn't recognize over and over again. Caroline feels a strange tingling sensation wash over her as she looks down at her hands, watching as a dark heart-shaped mark appears on the palm of her right hand. Like a three-day-old sharpie drawing that was washing away bit by bit. Jane-Anne stops chanting and steps away, lips pressing together tightly.

Caroline watches as Elijah turns toward Klaus as he lifts up his right hand after she turns hers toward him, Klaus looks at his palm, then turns it to Caroline. It's clear. And for a moment, Caroline is freaking out. Does that mean it's Tyler's? How long had it been? It couldn't have been anyone else's. It was Tyler or Klaus, that's all she knew for certain. Then, Klaus looks at his other hand, as if forgetting that he had two of them and stares. Caroline's heart rate picks up as Elijah leans in close to look at his hand, before turning dark eyes up to Klaus's pale face.

"Brother..."

"I see it," Klaus grounds out, his emotions dancing off his face between complete and utter fear and unfathomable rage. Caroline's not sure exactly who he was mad at, but she knew which would beat out. Because rage is easier. It's always easier. Especially to someone like Klaus. Where all his life he's needed to use rage as a weapon to protect himself.

"This is ludacris," Klaus snarls, turning his eyes burning link blue fire toward the witches. "You bring us all the way out here in hopes that I will do your bidding all for the sake of a child that you perceive to be my weakness? Do you think you can threaten and control me? Do you think there will not be consequences to this? Why should I help you? Why should I even care?"

"Brother, please," Elijah starts, reaching out to touch Klaus's arm but he rips his arm back, away from Elijah's touch as if it burned him.

"Don't 'brother please' me, Elijah!" Klaus snaps, stepping back as if he was literally being backed up into a corner and he was ready to strike out like an injured animal. Elijah must have had the same impression because he holds his hands up to show he means no harm. "Why should I believe these witch lies? They are trying to use this child I care nothing for to control me into attacking a one-time friend all because they aren't allowed to use magic in the Quarter? I will not be used as a tool."

"Hey," Sophie snaps, her eyebrows pulled together. "Are you saying you don't care about Caroline?"

"What I feel for Caroline in none of your business, witch," Klaus snarls, making her shrink back a bit when his eyes land on her.

She takes a beat, steels herself, before saying, "Look at her, you prick."

Klaus's face twitches with his anger and for a moment, Caroline thought that he was going to flash over to the girl and snap her neck, and maybe he was, but then Elijah looked down at her, at first in confusion, then in pity, and he softly says, "Niklaus, look."

And he did.

He turns, scowling angrily, and looks down at her, and somehow, that's when she realized, in the middle of the ranting and raving, she fell back against the wall behind her and slide to the floor. She was shaking and crying so quietly she didn't even realize she was until she hand to remove her hands from her mouth to breathe, forgetting how to use her nose.

She was overtaken by so many emotions that she didn't know how to handle them.

She was pregnant? She was really going to have a child? Even after she had come to accept that she would never have any biological children of her own due to her vampirism?

And not only that, but Klaus Mikaelson was the father? Disregard the fact that he was kind of an ally, kind of an enemy depending on the day, but her friends don't even know that they slept together. One time.

Never mind the fact that it wasn't Tyler's because he was, at the time she slept together with Klaus, and technically still is, her boyfriend. Yes, after all of this Caroline and Tyler ended on a really weird note. With Klaus having officially chased Tyler out of Mystic Falls, they never really settled on what was going on with their relationship. And as far as Caroline is concerned, they are still together. This means Caroline sleeping with Klaus makes her a cheater. And this baby growing inside of her is proof of the deception.

And even though the little voice in the back of her head wants to tell her that she isn't a cheater because he left and they basically broke up, but it didn't feel completely over. But her neurotic brain wouldn't accept that so she went right back to believing that she was a cheater. And the voice also wanted to blame Klaus for all of this, just because it's easier that way, but she knew that she couldn't blame him. Honestly, Klaus did nothing wrong.

Caroline has always been dramatic and emotional, but now she feels like a mess. And with all these thoughts and emotions swirling around inside of her like an angry maelstrom, she could only stare at Klaus, tears streaming down her face as the anger melts away from his.

She whispers so softly yet somehow, in the silence of the cemetery, it sounds like she's screaming, "You hate me. It's okay. I think I hate me too."

Hurt flickers across Klaus's face and Caroline's brain tells her it was because she spoke the truth. She closes her eyes slowly, feeling fresh tears sliding down her cheeks and she has to blink a few times to clear her vision enough to see Klaus slowly kneel down in front of her. He places his hands on her knees, staring into her with big, sad blue eyes, shame dwelling in them.

"I don't hate you, Caroline. I don't."

Caroline didn't believe him. But she didn't blame him, though. Even though that evil little voice wanted to. She reaches out with her hands to lightly cup his cheeks, forcing a smile that actually hurt her. She hated seeing him like this. It wasn't his fault and he has every right to be mad and mistrustful. Rationalizing it in her mind, Caroline knew that this was terrifying to him and he was handling it in the only way Klaus knew how to. His anger wasn't really directed at her, or really the witches, but at the situation as a whole.

He's scared. He's scared and his mind is going a thousand miles a minute and he needs to vent that anger or the fear will overwhelm and destroy him. And Caroline is so sorry she did this. It'd be different if they were dating or seeing each other casually or even friends on more than just when the occasion suits her and her friends.

But no, they were on-again, off-again acquaintances that have a lot of unresolved emotions and chemistry. And thinking about it now, Caroline is ashamed of how she treated him all this time. It wasn't that she hated him, no, they were past that. But once she fell into the mean, bitchy attitude that she got with him - that he never seemed to mind - she couldn't drop it.

But she was never overly kind to him. And this man is now the father of her child. A child she didn't think she would ever be able to have. And he wasn't even her boyfriend at the time, simply the man who scared her boyfriend - who she loved - out of town because, essentially, Klaus Mikaelson is an asshole.

She can't control all the whirling emotions inside of her, but she can try to help him. Maybe offer him the touch of kindness that she never did before.

While stroking his cupped cheeks with her thumbs, she rasps, softly, "It's okay, Klaus. It's okay to be scared and even angry. I'm so sorry that this happened, but it's okay. It will all be okay. I'll take care of it." She forces a smile, nodding slowly as she stares into his pretty eyes, sniffling loud and no doubt looking like an absolute mess. "You don't owe me anything. I'm not mad, nor will I be mad. You can be apart of its life, or not, that is your choice, but I'm going to have it. I'm going to keep it. If I only get one chance to have a child, I'm going to have this one."


	5. Own Up

**Author's Note: So sorry about the long wait, everyone! I am just loving hearing from all of you! It is really helping me out, so thank you all for taking the time to say something! I hope that you guys are still enjoying! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

Klaus stares at her for a moment, as if he didn't know how to form words. Caroline watches as a slew of different emotions flickers across his face before settling on an expression exuding resolution.

"You want it?" He asks softly in disbelief, despite his expression being sure. "You will bear my child? You want me to be in the life of my child?"

"Of course," Caroline laughs, voice shaking a bit. "I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I'm basically a child myself. I'm eighteen, Klaus!" She laughs, a bit of hysteria edging into her voice. Her shaking voice withers into silence as she stares into Klaus's pretty blue eyes. Then, softly, "Maybe we both are about the same level of preparation for this."

The corner of Klaus's lips curls slightly. "I have the means to raise this child."

"Great," Caroline says. "You can provide the monetary care and I'll do the rest." They lapse into silence again for a moment, still staring at each other, before Caroline whispers, "I don't want to do this alone, Klaus. I'm not crazy about the idea. But, I'm still at the beginning of my life. I don't know enough to raise a kid on my own. I don't want money, I can make money on my own. I don't want a babysitter, I can always ask my friends or my mom. I want... a partner." Caroline rubs at her forehead. "I knew that I wanted to be a mother one day, but I accepted that I was never going to have children of my own but... now I can. If this is the only chance I get, I'm going to take it."

Klaus's lower lip trembles a bit. "Can you be okay with this being forced upon you?" He asks, his voice soft.

"I don't know," Caroline admits, her voice shaking again, "but I want this baby. I want it."

With confidence, he looks into her eyes, placing his hands on her shoulders and leaning in close to her and says, "Listen to me, Caroline, and listen close. I will keep my word. I will do everything in my power to make you safe again. You and our baby."

Our. He said, 'our'. Does that mean..? Is he accepting the baby? Caroline isn't sure if she wants to ask. Not here. Not in front of all of these witches. Caroline doesn't know them. She doesn't trust them. And even if Klaus is just offering her lip service, it's fine, so long as they are in it together for the time being and he keeps his word.

Caroline feels like she's all alone in this. But knowing that Klaus is there to offer at least peripheral support is enough to keep her going until they get back to Bonnie and Stefan. Oh no, Bonnie and Stefan. What is she going to do? What is she going to say? How is she supposed to tell them? What is she supposed to tell them? Well, the truth, obviously, but that would mean admitting to everything. She can't just pretend like she isn't gaining weight at a crazy speed coupled with swelling limbs, uncontrollable cravings, and wall to wall mood swings. And even if she could get away with it, what was she to do when the baby got there? Feign surprise?

No, she had to tell them the truth.

At least it was Bonnie and Stefan. Stefan would be shocked, ask questions as he saw fit, perhaps have to be alone for a bit to think about it, but then he would be okay. He would be able to talk to her. He would find his head again and they would be able to talk about this.

Bonnie, on the other hand, is going to be a little different. Bonnie could either be very understanding of the situation, or she could not. Caroline knows that she isn't going to blow her top. She may be mad. She may be upset. But she will stay. Caroline needs Bonnie. And even if she has to walk away for a moment to collect herself, she will always come back because Bonnie loves her.

Caroline just doesn't want to face their judgment. She doesn't want to see the disapproval in their eyes. She loves them so much and has hated having to lie to them for so long. It's only befitting that one and only, a huge secret that she chose to keep from her friends happens to come back to bite her in the ass with an absolute vengeance.

Despite the fear and terror that surge through her at the thought of this child, there is a flicker of something else there. It's small and frail, at the very beginning of its life, but she can feel it. But she won't put a name to it just yet. She'll have to see what it evolves into with time.

* * *

Persuasive Elijah and daunting Klaus convince the witches that they will remain in New Orleans and take care of the vampires "on their terms" the witches made them swear to, and let Caroline come with them. Needless to say, when they demanded that Caroline remain with them as insurance, Klaus grabbed onto the nearest witch, an older woman by the name of Agnus - if the gasping cries of the witches around them were anything to go on - and held her by the throat.

"Klaus," Caroline calls, leaning against the doorway, Elijah's hand under her arm to help keep her steady.

"I'm not sure I quite heard you right, witch," Klaus snarls, lip curling in his rage. "But are you trying to tell me that I can't bring the mother of my child with me? Do you presume to order me around after so blatantly threatening me to assist in _your _vendetta? I should hope not, because I assure you that will only lead to the three of us leaving this cemetery. Alone."

"It seems my brother isn't in the mood to discuss the location in which the mother of his child will be kept in safe guard..." Elijah says diplomatically.

The witch paws at Klaus's arm, choking as she started to look color in her already dark skin.

"Let her go," Sophie says, Caroline learning to pick her voice out of the crowd of witches all insisting that Klaus release the woman in his grip. "You're hurting her!"

Jane-Anne, dark eyes wide and fearful, sinks down onto a cement bench looking paler than Caroline was. Caroline, in the back of her head, wanted to ask the woman what was wrong, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't want to stay here, in this cemetery for a moment longer than she had to. If these witches couldn't do magic, then nothing else was keeping her here. So long as she stayed in New Orleans, she'll be okay. Hopefully.

"Klaus," Caroline calls again. She swallows thickly, trying to stomp down the fear in her heart as it bubbles up in her chest once more. "Let her go. They aren't going to stop us. I have to stay in New Orleans anyway. We can talk again, but later. I'm exhausted and starving. Come on." A pause, then, "Please."

She knew she got him when his head tilted slightly in her direction. She mustered up enough strength for her pitiful look. She used the voice she uses when she knows he's mad but wants him to do something for her anyway. It's never failed against him. Elijah raises his eyebrows as Klaus looks over at Caroline and she gives him the most pitiful expression she can muster. And she knew she won him over at the droll look he sent her way like she was screwing with his fun.

But then he really looked at, leaning so heavily on Elijah that he was the only thing holding her up now. The nausea from before finally subsided enough for her stomach to start growling in desperate need for food and the pins and needles were working their way up her throat from the need for blood. She wasn't sure why the New Orleans witches couldn't tell that she was a vampire, but it seems like Klaus and Elijah wanted to use that to their advantage, and at this point, Caroline really didn't care.

"Very well," Klaus says airily, dropping the witch into the dirt, casting her a half glance like she was less than that to him, "but there will be no more discussion about where Caroline will stay. You wanted us in New Orleans, we're here. Now your business is with me. You better not get any big brain witch ideas about bringing Caroline back into this," Klaus says maliciously, blackened veins pulsate threateningly around his eyes without his eyes changing but making their point all the same, "or you won't have a tongue to articulate those big ideas."

And that was that.

Klaus makes his way over to her, scooping her up into his arms and makes his way out of the cemetery with Elijah following behind. Caroline didn't have the energy to fight with him or struggle out of his grip. If he was going to carry her around, she was going to let him. At least for today.

But she cast one last look over at the witches with her cheek resting against his shoulder. There were a few of them tend to the threatened witch who was rubbing at her throat, wheezing for air, while the rest watch them go in silence. Except it wasn't the rest of them. Jane-Anne was hugging Sophie close, and it looked like they were crying. Both of them. Caroline couldn't believe that they would be crying in relief to get Klaus that. Apparently, they must have thought he would be some knight in shining armor.

Oh, how wrong she was.

* * *

"Caroline!" Bonnie's voice breaks into her drowsy mind.

"Are you okay?" Stefan's voice punches through the darkness too, making her open her eyes to see that Klaus brought her back to where they left both the cars and her friends. Bonnie runs over, walking next to Klaus while looking after Caroline with manicured black eyebrows pulled together tightly. Stefan pushes away from where he was leaning against his car to tilt his head, staring past the rest of them at the person following from behind. "Elijah?"

"Hello, Stefan," Elijah greets, politely.

"Looks like we are all coming back to our old stomping grounds," Stefan says, casting a worried look Caroline's way.

"I suppose we both are, Mr. Salvatore," Elijah says easily, casting him a look before also turning his attention to Caroline as Klaus lowers her to sit in the back seat of his car, pulling out a blood bag for her that she gulps down greedily, finally able to stomach food. Or in this case, blood.

"Touche," Stefan admits as Caroline blows through the first blood bag and asks for another, taking deep gulping breaths of air before sinking her teeth into the next blood bag, slowing down a bit. "So what happened? Don't keep us in suspense forever."

Klaus leans over Caroline, arm resting against the frame of the car, staring down at her for a moment before looking over at Stefan and Bonnie. "It seems like the witches of New Orleans have forgotten who they are dealing with."

"In perhaps more detail?" Bonnie asks, looking in at Caroline, who wipes the small dribble of blood from the corner of her mouth.

"Not here," Caroline says, looking at Klaus and Elijah. "Maybe we... should go somewhere else?" Out in the open, talking about this probably wasn't the best, but she also needs time to build the courage to admit to Bonnie and Stefan about what she did and how the consequences have presented themself to her.

The initial reaction to this was that she was being punished for something. Of course, she kept her tryst with Klaus a secret and the only true way to prove that it happened short of a video camera recording the whole thing, was her getting pregnant from it. Ironic. She's dead and never thought to use any form of protection and she slept with one being in the world who could get her pregnant. Aint that painfully ironic.

But after admitting that she wanted the baby, more out of desperation to have a baby seeing as it probably would have been her only chance, she started to really think about it and she thinks that it's best. She doesn't believe in abortions, and just the thought of considering it makes her sick to her stomach. But she wouldn't give it up for adoption either. She does want this baby. She may not be physically or emotionally ready for it, but she does want it. And she'll do anything and everything she has to do to make herself ready for it.

This baby shouldn't be punished because its parents didn't think to use protection - well, there is a logical reason for that, but still. And besides that... Caroline is slowly starting to get used to the idea that something is coming. She's not sure she's ready to be a mom or anything like that, but now she's seeing this child as a light at the end of the tunnel. Everything has just been so terrible these last few weeks especially, and Caroline has always loved having something else to pour her energy into.

If she can push past the initial panic that all of this presents, then she's happy. Happy that she is blessed with the opportunity to have a baby, after accepting the terrible reality that she wouldn't have any of her own. Her family was so small, when she died and her dad came out as gay and swore off women, her bloodline will essentially die with her.

Not anymore. Now she had something that would carry her own blood. Something that was hers. Something that would love her wholeheartedly, and she would love it a thousand times more.

And finally, for the first time in her life, she was the girl who was the one. Perhaps it wasn't with a man, but a baby that would fulfill the empty place in her heart. Maybe the reason why she was never really good enough for the boys in her life was that the person that was meant to fulfill her was to one day grow within her. Who is to say the love of her life couldn't be her own baby.

That also helps make her feel better.

"Let us find somewhere to stay for tonight," Elijah agrees. "We can talk more then."

* * *

So they go to this fancy hotel. Some nice joined rooms with double beds for them to share. Caroline, Bonnie, and Stefan claim one room and Elijah and Klaus claim the other. They were only going to stay the night as Klaus was already making arrangments for a place for them to live for the foreseeable future. Caroline is just grateful that he's so quick to get the ball rolling. He doesn't drag his heels for anything.

Once they were sitting around in Caroline, Bonnie, and Stefan's room. Bonnie sits down right next to Caroline and turns to face her. "Alright, Caroline, no more stalling. What did those witches want from you?"

Caroline looks down at her colorful socks, trying to think of how to answer that question. "Well, honestly, they wanted Klaus, not me," Caroline says, casting a glance over at the little table on the far wall where Klaus and Elijah were both sitting. Stefan sinks down into his claimed bed, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Oh? And what does this have to do with you?"

"They used me to get him here, I guess," Caroline admits. Although she wasn't the only one that they used.

Bonnie, used to all of Caroline's behavioral quirks, narrows her eyes a bit at the flippancy in the blond's words. "Okay. So what aren't you saying?"

Caroline looks away from Klaus down at her hands, trying to find the courage to speak. Since they left the cemetery, Caroline has been trying to find a way to give voice to what happened. She was able to admit it to some strangers, yet she can't even talk to her best friend? That's ridiculous. No matter how upset they may be, Caroline knows that Stefan and Bonnie love her. They'll forgive her. Maybe.

It's Tyler that she knows will never forgive her. And it may not even matter if he thought that they were still together or not. Klaus killed Carol Lockwood, Tyler's mom, there is no way he would ever forgive her for sleeping with him. Even if she had slept with Klaus long before he killed Carol. It's not going to matter to him.

But Caroline can't think about that now, it's just going to make her sick to her stomach.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you something and you have to promise not to get mad at me," Caroline says, casting her best friend a sideways glance.

"Oh," Stefan says as Bonnie narrows her eyes a bit more, "I do love confessions that start like that."

"Caroline, I could just tell them - " Klaus starts but Caroline shakes her head.

"No, I have to be the one. They are my friends." She stares into his eyes for a moment until he nods, mouth closing and leaning back into his chair.

Stefan does that closed-mouth smile he reserves for when he's unsure how to feel about something and he's worried it's going to show on his face. Which it usually does. "Great. Klaus is involved in it."

"What happened, Caroline?" Bonnie asks.

Caroline distinctly notes that neither promised not to be mad but decided that she didn't deserve to pressure them into promising her. Even though she really wants them too. She takes a few deep, shuddering breaths, hating that she can't just admit to it. Caroline turns to her best friend, reaching out to take her darker, thinner hands in her own and holding them tightly.

"Okay, so remember that party that the Mikaelsons had at their house when mama Mikaelson came back because of us and wanted to gather all her children together in some unholy ritual to link them all together so that she could kill Finn and the rest of them would all die, thus taking out the entire sire lines of all of them, killing Damon, Stefan, Tyler, myself and everyone else they turned by default?"

Bonnie blinks really slowly while Stefan raises his eyebrows high toward his hairline. Bonnie stares at her and when Caroline didn't immediately continue on, she asks, sarcastically, "Was that before junior prom or after the Silas attack?"

Caroline gives her friend a look. "Bonnie! You don't remember this?"

Bonnie gives her a look. "Of course I do, Caroline. I'll remind you that my mom and I were supposed to be part of the spell that would kill Finn and break the vampire curse when Damon killed her. So yes, I know that time very well."

Caroline sucks her lips into her mouth at the sour expression that covers her best friend's face. Caroline didn't need the high browed look Stefan sent her way to know that she wasn't doing a great job at explaining what had happened. Glancing over at Klaus's own high browed look didn't help either. Caroline kind of wishes she had just let Klaus tell them. He was pretty good at just ripping the bandaid off, but Caroline felt that if she didn't say it, it was like she wasn't owning up to it. And she had to. Now more than ever before.

"So," Caroline continues, pulling her eyes back to her best friend's, "Klaus and I were out admiring the horses and we got into an argument."

Bonnie narrows her eyes dangerously, gripping Caroline's hands tighter. Through gritted teeth, she whispers, "Okay..."

"Well, I told him that I liked horses, and so did he, and then he started telling me about his favorite horse that his father killed like a real jerk, which was really so depressing and not a good party topic if you ask me, and somehow we got onto the topic of people and I told him that I liked horses and people and that he made it really hard to like him because he was mean all the time and threatened Tyler..." She stops to take a breath, having said all of that in one go, and while Bonnie still looks mad, she is starting to look a bit confused as to where Caroline was going with this. No doubt she thought that Klaus threatened her, or hurt her in some way. But it was quite the opposite.

"Caroline," Stefan cuts in, drawing her eyes over to him, "I think you're missing the point of this. And I am suspecting that you're also stalling."

Okay, maybe she was. "Alright," Caroline says, looking back over at Bonnie. "So we were arguing, or I was arguing with myself, and I was yelling at him probably saying some mean and uncalled for things which tend to be my fall back when dealing with him - ''

"Caroline," Stefan warns again and Caroline can see Bonnie is starting to get mad again.

"Right, sorry," Caroline shakes her head, looking into Bonnie's beautiful brown eyes, sucking in a deep breath before saying, perhaps a bit softer and more terrified than she should have, "I slept with Klaus."

Bonnie stares at her. Caroline stares back, knowing how Bonnie feels about Klaus and admitting to what she did in the face of her best friend both makes her sick to her stomach for the lie and relieved that it was finally out in the open. She hated lying to her best friends. Now she had to tell Elena and her mom, and her conscience would be clear.

Oh, shoot. She still had to tell Tyler too. Whelp, now she feels terrible again.

Bonnie looks over at Klaus who - thank the heavens, isn't grinning like a fool or somehow gloating like a small part of Caroline thought he would be - but instead met her gaze with a steady, calm one in return. Stefan looks back and forth between them, green eyes wide before leaning back a bit and letting out a long, drawn-out breath, a slew of different emotions playing across his face as he processes the new information provided to him.

Caroline starts to think the silence isn't one of contemplation but perhaps a calm before the storm, which is terrifying.

Slowly, Bonnie looks over at her with angry, dark eyes, whispering, "Did he hurt you?"

And suddenly Caroline knows where the rage is coming from. The same rage she faced when she started going out with Tyler and didn't tell Bonnie first.

"No," Caroline says, gripping her hands tightly to ensure the girl didn't set fire to the room that they're in. "No, Bonnie, he didn't."

"Did he force you?"

"No, Bonnie!"

"Don't defend him, Caroline. If he did something to you, tell me now." Bonnie's dark eyes fill with anger, looking ready to tear Klaus apart. "You always do this. You always defend the assholes! You try so hard to see the good in people!"

"Bonnie!" Caroline yells over her best friend's rising voice, watching as the anger from Expression slowly dim down in her eyes. Once she's sure that her friend is listening, she says, softly, finally accepting the reality of her own words, "It's not like any of that. It was me, Bonnie. I was the one who made the first move. I was the one who had all the power. When I told him to stop, he did. If I didn't want it, he would have backed off. It was me, Bonnie. I'm not defending him, I'm owning up to it. It was my choice." She looks into her best friend's eyes. "He was good to me, Bonnie. He was sweet and kind and never pushed me. Everything that happened that night was my choice."

And she found relief in saying that. Finally owning her decision after so long feels good. She hated that she lied to her friends, but it feels nice to finally admit the truth.

"You're not lying to defend him?" Bonnie asks slowly, still looking like she's ready to tear Klaus apart in the blink of an eye but that anger is starting to dissipate.

"No," Caroline says softly, gripping her hands tighter. "I'm not. I had sex with him because... I don't know why. Maybe I'm just a lost cause, but he was charming and sweet and has always been good to me, even when I want to strangle him for hurting my friends. And when I need him, he's always there to help me. I don't know what made that night different, but... I did it. Klaus let it be entirely my choice. He was good to me, Bonnie. Please don't think for a moment that he wasn't."

Bonnie's anger lowers to a simmer as she accepts Caroline's words with a solemn nod. She laces her fingers with Caroline and the blond sees that the explosion of mount Bonnie may have already passed.

"So what does this have to do with the necklace?" Bonnie asks. "Was it just to weaken you so that Klaus would bring you to New Orleans?" She blinks a few times, big brain working as her dark eyes find Caroline's blue ones. "Wait, what does this have to do with sleeping with Klaus?"

"Well..." Caroline says slowly, refusing to look over at the man in question. In fact, it's been somewhat easier talking to Bonnie as if she was alone with her best friend. She never admitted to anyone, even the witches about that night. Klaus was good to her, he always asked her if it was okay. He was gentle and kind and to be honest none of the other boys she's been with were ever like that with her. Thankfully she didn't have to go into detail about whats of it all for everyone's sake, just that he was very gentlemanly and gave her full control of the situation.

"Caroline..." Bonnie says slowly, her eyebrows pulling together again in worry. "What happened?"

Caroline sucks in a deep breath. "So, you know how I'm dead and I can't get pregnant so I don't need to worry about using protection of any sort with anyone, right?"

Bonnie looks perplexed, dark eyes wide. "Uh, sure?"

Caroline laughs sardonically, catching Stefan tilting his head to the side at her words. "Well, it just so happens, there is actually one person in the entire world that could get me pregnant."

Bonnie stares at her. "What? What are you talking about? Protection against...? Who could...?" She blinks once. Twice. Three times, before her eyes nearly bug out of her head. "Wait, what? Klaus can get you pregnant?" Stefan jerks at her question, and then Bonnie's face becomes paralyzed by her own words as her big brain connects all the dots. "Wait... Caroline... are you pregnant?"

"That's impossible," Stefan cuts in. "You're both vampires. There is no way that's possible."

"Apparently the impossible doesn't apply to my brother," Elijah finally cuts it, lacing his fingers together beneath his chin. Now Klaus has the audacity to look smug, shrugging his shoulders.

"I've been told that before," he jests, ignoring the glares sent from him at all angles.

Stefan runs his hand through his styled brown hair, shaking his head slowly as he tries to wrap his mind around this information. "Wait, so were you always able to do this or...?"

"The curse," Caroline offers, looking over at her other friend seeing as Bonnie shut down. "The werewolf curse. Apparently, when he broke it, the magic now allows him to have babies. Yay. And apparently, it doesn't matter if his partner is dead or alive." Caroline makes a sour look at her own words, not liking how they came out. And by the looks of the people around her, they didn't like it either. She amends with, "I mean, vampire or human."

"But you're pregnant," Stefan says, staring at Caroline. "With an actual baby? Of Klaus's?"

Caroline nods. "He's the last guy I was with. And don't say 'actual baby'. I'm already going to be having nightmares about crazy hybrid baby, I don't need it to not actually look like a baby."

Stefan holds up his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I'm just... shocked."

"You and me, both," Caroline mutters. But now that the hardest part was done with, they were finally able to move on to the rest of the story. The necklace, Caroline's family and now this problem with Marcel Gerard and the witches. That's finally enough to pull Bonnie back. She keeps close, eyeing Caroline's stomach with an open expression, no doubt with questions, but decides to hold her tongue for now. At least she's not boiling with rage anymore. Caroline is thankful for that.

"Okay, so what are we going to do about this?" Bonnie asks. "We aren't leaving Caroline behind, so it looks like we're staying in New Orleans." She looks over at Stefan who nods in affirmation.

"So what do we sort out first?" Stefan asks. "Who is this Marcel Gerard? Why do the witches want him stopped? And why do they want it done a certain way?"

"Marcel is... an old family friend," Elijah says, jaw working a bit. "We raised him a long time ago from a boy. We... thought he died a hundred years ago when last we were here in the city, but if this is the same person, then apparently he did not."

Klaus purses his lips a bit. "Apparently, our dearly beloved Marcel has found a way to control the witches, preventing them from using magic."

"How are they doing that?" Bonnie asks, eyebrows pulling together.

"If only I knew, love," Klaus says simply, "I'd have used it a hundred years ago."

Bonnie glares at him and Caroline squeezes her hands. "Maybe that level of candor is unnecessary, Klaus." He shrugs his shoulders dismissively. "So whatever he's doing is preventing magic from being used, because the necklace is working."

"Or perhaps it's linked to new magic," Elijah says. At Caroline's perplexed look, he elaborates, "Meaning whatever is alerting him of magic is something that is active now, and doesn't connect with passive magic spells like the one in your necklace."

"Or Sophie Deveraux's ability to know you're pregnant just by a glance," Klaus offers. "Passive magical abilities or objects must go unseen. Only active spells may be accounted for."

"So why wouldn't they want us to kill this Marcel guy?" Stefan asks. "It sounds like he's the problem. If we kill him, then wouldn't they not have to worry about a magical warning system telling people they're using magic?"

"Stefan is on to something," Elijah admits, pointing over at the vampire sitting on the bed as he turns dark eyes toward Klaus. "So what reason could they have to not want Marcel dead?"

"Because maybe it's not an object," Bonnie cuts in as Klaus's lips part to answer. All eyes turn to the Bennett witch. "Maybe it isn't an object at all. Maybe it's a person. And not just any person. Another witch."


	6. Appeared

**Author's Note: Hello my loves! Thank you all so much for your support of this story. I am so crazy excited about this story and I'm happy to hear from all of you. You guys really help motivate me onward, so I'm thankful that you're taking your time to reach out and say something, so thank you for that! Let me know what you guys think! Enjoy!**

They reached the end of the conversation with that one. Without looking around and investigating, there wasn't a lot more that could be done besides idle speculation. But Bonnie was curious about where this power came from and would be cracking open some grimoires to see if she could find anything that might help them.

It was some time afterward that they all settled in for the night after Caroline snarfed down another few blood bags and got some pizza to hold over Bonnie - and Caroline because pizza sounded great, leaving the door open between both rooms. Caroline sort of thought that it was weird that Klaus would insist on it, but his gaze kept lowering to her stomach contemplatively and she figured this was just his knee-jerk reaction to all this new information. As much as their friends like to capitalize on it, Caroline knows that her safety and her health is important to Klaus. He has made that clear to her even if she rebuffs his actions with annoyance.

Now, growing inside of her is a child. A child that is a piece of both of them. So either he's funneling his care for her into this situation, or, like her, he's starting to accept this new reality and is reacting like a normal person. He wants to protect his child. Perhaps she's giving him too much credit, but a small part of her always believed that there was good in him. She was always holding out hope that he would surprise her. That he would be the decent man that he only ever offers her glimpses of.

But as tired as she was, her racing mind refused to let her rest peacefully. She's not sure what her nightmares were, just that she woke up more than once to the sound of her own crying. After the second or third time in the silence of the two rooms, Bonnie finally rolled over and wrapped her arms around Caroline's waist, hugging her close and Caroline promised that no matter how long it takes, or what needs to be done, Bonnie will feel as appreciated as Caroline does right at this moment.

Bonnie held her close as she cried softly, slipping back to sleep as someone takes her hand, making hers feel tiny in his grip, and he kisses her hair before placing his other hand on her head. She feels him touch her mind and she has an aching suspicion of who did it when the rest of her night was spent dreaming about riding horses. And a beautiful dark horse by the name of Theo.

Suddenly, Caroline's dreams were filled with all the things she loved. Horses, people, her friends. And she's back in Mystic Falls with everyone she loves. And her dream is good. And in the briefest of moments, when her eyes found Klaus in the crowd of loved ones, his smile was soft and sweet, before he vanished into nothing.

Caroline woke up the next morning with Bonnie still wrapped around her waist, comforting her beyond words. It's dawn, Caroline can tell from the sound of the birds chirping. She slowly unravels herself from Bonnie and sits up, glancing over at the bed next to hers to see Stefan is turned away with his back to her.

Caroline slips her toms on and grabs a cardigan from her open suitcase and one of the keys to the hotel before slipping out. She walks down the hall to the elevator, hitting the down bottom and waiting. There is the rhymic ding of the elevator as it climbs to their floor. The door opens up slowly and she steps into it, turning around and then looks at the spot next to her to see Klaus standing there.

"Out for a morning stroll?"

"Yeah," Caroline says softly. "I need some air." They stand in silence for a moment, listening to the gentle ding of the elevator as it descends to the bottom floor. "What about you? You're up early."

"Couldn't sleep," he says flippantly. Caroline looks over to see he was already in jeans, boots and a henley long sleeve shirt.

"I'm sorry," Caroline says softly. "I know I kept waking everyone up last." The door opens and they walk out into the lobby and then out through the front doors onto the street. She crosses her arms over her chest as they walk side by side down the street with no destination in mind. The morning is chilled, feeling good after spending all night with Bonnie pressed up against her back like a little heater.

"It's not your fault," Klaus says easily, grabbing onto his wrist in front of himself as they go, blue eyes watching the streets around them protectively. Caroline knows it's probably not smart to be wandering around out in the open like this, but thankfully Klaus isn't stopping her from roaming about. She needed this space, even if only for a moment. They walk around in silence around the block before making their way back toward the hotel in relative silence, their shoulders bumping into each other occasionally before Caroline finally whispers, softly, "I'm not going to get to go home for a while, will I?"

Klaus presses his lips together tightly for a moment, blue eyes still roaming the streets, trained to look for threats over years of paranoia that enemies lurked in every shadow. "Yes," Klaus admits, his voice soft. "I'm sorry, Caroline."

* * *

So Klaus, later on that day, brings them to this old plantation home and the first thing that they did was bring someone over to sign the deed of the house over to Bonnie. Bonnie gave Klaus the dirtiest look before going inside to sign the agreement of the house while Caroline, Klaus, Elijah, and Stefan stayed outside to wait for it to be done.

"How are you feeling, Care?"

Caroline looks over at Stefan, shrugging her shoulders a bit. "I'm okay," she says, wrapping the cardigan around herself a bit more, feeling a bit of a chill despite the heat. "I'm just thinking about how I'm going to call my mom and tell her that I'm not coming home. At least for a little while." She looks down at her phone again, wondering what to do before sighing and shoving it into her back pocket then folding her arms over her chest. "I can't keep thinking about this. I'm going to drive myself crazy."

"You have to tell her," Stefan says, leaning against one of the pillars with his hands stuffed into his pocket. "Even if you don't want to talk about it. You have to face her sooner or later."

"How are Elena and Damon doing?" Caroline snaps back. "You can't keep ignoring it even if you don't want to talk about it. You have to face her sooner or later."

Stefan's eyebrows shot toward his hairline as Klaus purses his lips in the corner of her vision and Caroline immediately felt bad for running her mouth like that.

"Touche," Stefan says, nodding his head.

"Stefan, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that." She walks over to the pillar next to the one Stefan was leaning on. "I'm just a little twitchy after all of this. But I know what you're saying. I have to tell her at some point, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to build up the courage to say something today. I know I have to, but I'm just worried."

"You think Liz will be mad?" Stefan asks, eyebrows pulling together. "Why?"

"Why not?" Caroline says softly, letting out a sigh. "I'm eighteen. I'm not ready to have a baby. I'm still in high school, which I can't even go back to finish, and Bonnie is currently signing for a house that is terribly ironic seeing as it looks like an old plantation home, so that's a thing, but now she's probably not going to finish either because of my situation because she's a great friend. It's not fair and I know she's going to be upset with me because this wasn't part of my plan. I was going to graduate high school, go to college, have fun, then marry the man of my dreams and have two kids. One boy and one girl. I had it all planned out, and I know she's going to be upset that I'm not even going to be able to go to the rest of my senior year."

"Plans fall through sometimes, Caroline," Stefan says softly. "Liz isn't going to be mad about that. It's not something that you can control."

Caroline rests her head against the pillar. "I know it's not my fault, but I'm just jittery and worried and I don't know. I think I'm stressing while panicking at the same time and it's bringing out a strangeness from me."

"Just try to relax," Stefan says softly, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "You're pregnant, so keep that in mind. Let us worry about the stressful stuff. You just try to..." He stares at her. Then decides, kindly, "stay out of your own head."

Caroline rolls her eyes. "I can't. I'm not wired to be able to stay out of my own head."

The door opens before Stefan can respond and the guests leave with Bonnie standing in the doorway, her lips pursed as she turns dark eyes watch them leave. Caroline turns to face Bonnie with her own large blue eyes.

"Is it done, Bonnie?"

"Yes," Bonnie says, holding the door open. "Caroline? Would you like to come in?"

Caroline smiles, pushing off of the pillar to walk over to the threshold of the house, stepping past with no adverse effects. She walks over to the steps and sits down, feeling tired and hungry. Maybe they should go get some food or something.

"Stefan," Bonnie says, turning to the brown-haired younger vampire.

"Bonnie," Stefan says, smiling back at his friend.

"Would you like to come in?"

Stefan nods. "I would love to," he says, stepping past her and into the house, walking over to Caroline, offering her a little nod between looking over at the doorway once more.

Bonnie locks dark eyes with Elijah. "Would you like to come in, Elijah?"

Elijah pulls his own hands from his pocket, tipping his head respectfully and stepping past her into the house.

And that leaves Klaus. The blond offers a pursed lipped smile, obviously uncomfortable to be called out like this. He folds his hands behind his back, stepping up to the other side of the threshold staring down at her. Bonnie mimics his posture, twisting her neck a bit to look up at him, sucking in a deep breath before letting it out nice and slow.

"Bonnie," Caroline says after a moment of silence.

"Listen closely, Klaus," Bonnie says, her voice even and flat. "I don't like you. I really don't like you. But I love Caroline and for some unexplainable reason beyond my understanding, she sees something good in you. But she's always been like that, though. Always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, especially when they don't deserve it. You understand what I'm saying, don't you?"

Klaus keeps his expression calm but when he speaks, his voice is low, "I think I'm starting to get the picture."

"No," Bonnie snaps, "I don't think you do. In ninth grade, there was Jake..."

Caroline's heart jumps as she flies to her feet. "Bonnie! Oh, come on! Just invite him in so we can go on with our day."

Klaus looks over at her from the doorway, eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

"Uh, who's Jake?" Stefan asks, pulling his hands from his pockets and crossing them over his chest. He looks between Caroline's tightly pinched face and the back of Bonnie's head, that hasn't pulled her eyes away from Klaus in front of her.

"Jake is a boy that used to date Caroline in ninth grade," Bonnie says slowly. "He was charming and pursued her for months before she finally dated him. It started in eighth grade, went through the summer and then a month or so into ninth grade year, they were dating." She takes a tiny step closer to him, somehow looking larger than life even though she was almost an entire foot shorter than Klaus. "It didn't take him long to show who he really was. It started with him separated her from us at every twist and turn to isolate her from us. And it wasn't long after that Elena and I learned that he was beating the heck out of her."

Klaus's lips part, blinking slowly. He stares down into her eyes, processing the it makes her mad. This isn't what this was supposed to be about. She moved past this. She has, and it's not something that she wanted to be aired out like this. She would much rather forget that that part of her life ever even happened. And she knows Klaus, he's a loose cannon, she would hate for something to happen because he can't control himself. Or he feels like he has to do something because of his attraction to her.

"He was from a different school the next town over, met her at a football game," Bonnie says, her voice low. "So when we found out he was beating her up, Matt, Tyler and a couple of other guys got together and roughed him up and sent him packing. Elena and Matt were still dating at the time, so that was probably part of it, but Matt is also a super protective guy by nature. But I learned after that. Even with Tyler and all his anger problems. Caroline has a terrible taste in men."

Shame colors Caroline's face as she runs her hands through her hair. "Bonnie, come on. That was ancient history. I haven't seen him since that night."

Bonnie shakes her head slowly, looking up into Klaus's eyes. "I love her. I love her more than anyone else. She wouldn't say anything about Jake because she knew he would get in trouble. But I promise you, Klaus Mikaelson, your charm, and your wit don't impress me one bit. I learned from Jake. I even learned from Tyler. So let me tell you this, Klaus, I'm not going to let it get that far, either."

Klaus shakes his head slowly, hands sliding forward to his side. "I would never hurt her." Elijah's eyebrows pull together slowly, not really in disbelief but more in thoughtfullness and concern, Caroline doesn't want to even begin to think about what.

"Klaus," Bonnie says simply, her smile frosty, "you might be the strongest being in the world, or just about, but let me tell you something so we are crystal clear. If you hurt her in any way, if you hurt that baby in any way, you will be sorry. You will rue the day I find out you did something. I will use every bit of magic in my body to tear you limb from limb on repeat until I die, or you do."

"Bonnie," Caroline says, shaking her head. "Please. I don't want to talk about any of this anymore. Please." She wraps her arms around herself. "Bonnie, please."

Bonnie closes her eyes for a moment before nodding slowly. Whatever darkness was swirling around in her eyes finally subsiding as she sucks in a deep breath and steps back from the door, nodding slowly. "If we have an understanding, then Klaus, you are welcomed into this home."

Klaus blinks a few times, looking around the inside of the home before stepping past the threshold. He turns to look over at Caroline for a long moment, pale lips pressing together tightly. He stares at Caroline for a long moment, looking heartbroken.

"Okay," Caroline says, looking around at the occupants in the room, wiping the moisture from her eyes. "Let's do something other than talk about me." She presses her lips together for a moment, considering before looking around the house a bit. "How about we clean this place up, instead?"

* * *

"You guys are heading into town?" Caroline asks, following Klaus out of the house, as both of them carry out armfuls of sheets from the furniture inside. Klaus tucks them under one arm and opens up the cellar on the side of the house and leads the way down into the darkness. Caroline hears him attempt to turn the light on, but considering it doesn't work, she finds that it's safe to assume that the bulb needs to replaced.

They spent all day yesterday removing stuff from furniture and picking out rooms, before going back to the hotel again for that night so that they would have beds to sleep in that weren't old and musty. The guys removed everything that Caroline and Bonnie immediately vetoed as horrible and disgusting for a furniture company to pick up and either dispose of, or refurbish and resale at their own discretion. So now, it's early morning the next day and everyone is ready to start getting a lay of the land.

"Yes," Klaus says, in the darkness. "Stefan, Elijah, and I are going to town to start searching for answers and information on Marcel and the situation between the witches and the vampires." He walks out into the light cast by the open cellar doors. "Toss those down. No need for you to come all the way down here too."

"Are there bugs down there?" Caroline asks, tossing the pile in her hand down into the arms of the awaiting hybrid. She couldn't help the laugh that escaped her as the light was speckled in flying dust from the old sheets.

"Yes," Klaus says beneath the covers, balling them up before stepping into the darkness again to put them with the rest.

"Ew, then no thank you," Caroline says, crossing her arms while staring down in the darkness. "And maybe you should change your clothes, you're now covered in dust."

"I'm going out for a night on the town, Caroline," Klaus says, reemerging into the light and walking back up the stairs toward her. "You and Bonnie just stay here and we'll be back in a few hours."

Caroline steps out of the way and Klaus makes it to the top and starts closing the doors once more before turning to face her. Caroline sighs, reaching forward and brushing some of the dust from his shoulders while shaking her head. "Not going to happen, Klaus. Bonnie and I are going to the store. Everything in that house is bleak and old. Some of the furniture can be salvaged but I am going to paint my room. And Bonnie's too. Which reminds me," she holds out her hand expectantly, "we are going to need some more furniture for the house, so you should give me a card with a _really _high limit so that I can get the essentials." She flashes him an award-winning smile.

Klaus smiles back at her. "Furniture shopping, huh?"

Caroline shrugs her shoulders a bit, lowering her hand a bit. "Yes, and Bonnie needs food. And so do I. Our baby is going to be human, I need to eat too." She presses her lips together, looking down at the dirt.

"What?" Klaus asks, stepping closer, tipping his head lower to try and catch her eyes, he brings one hand forward to tip her chin up. "What's wrong?"

"Our baby is probably going to be human, Klaus," Caroline says softly, avoiding his eyes. "What if me drinking blood is hurting it?"

Klaus shakes his head, cupping her jaw with his hands. "No, that's impossible. You need blood to be strong. There is no way it is going to be bad for our baby."

"But it's blood," Caroline says softly, finally meeting Klaus's eyes. "Babies shouldn't be exposed to blood. Not like that. So I want to bring other food into the house too. One, because I am hankering for some mac n' cheese and two, because I'm hoping it will alleviate whatever damage the blood might be doing to our baby."

Klaus shakes his head again, pulling her to his chest and wrapping his arms around her. "Our baby will be alright, Caroline. I know it. But if it will make you feel better, bring whatever you want home."

Caroline nods, wrapping her arms around his waist, thankful that he is being so supportive. She can feel the muscles in his jaw working against her cheek as he wars with himself over something but Caroline is thankful that he's trying so hard. It's scary, for both of them, and when Caroline first heard the news, all she could think about was that she was going to have to do this alone. She knew, rationally, that she wasn't but that was the first thing that crossed her mind when she started to accept the truth.

And to be honest, so far, Klaus has blown her away with how he's acting. He's still tiptoeing around all of this, but over the course of the day, they both keep saying 'our baby' to see how the other would react, and while it's a strange feeling, it's not a bad one. It's just interesting and something to hopefully continue to explore.

"I know you're scared," Caroline says softly, closing her eyes, "I am too. So thank you for trying as hard as you are."

"Of course," Klaus says softly. "I told you when I chased Tyler out of town that I knew he was your first love, but I intended to be your last."

Caroline shakes her head, laughing softly, yet there is a swell in her chest. She's not sure if she's ever going to stop giving him shit, but the fact that he's not interested in dropping her, even though she's slept with him already and his fleeting desire should have come and gone, the fact that he's still here really does mean something to her. And she does appreciate him trying because she's absolutely terrified.

"I have to let you go," Caroline says, finally pulling back. "You are covered in dust." She looks down the front of her body, patting down her chest and pants, trying to get the dust off of her.

Klaus laughs softly, a gentle smile on his lips. He reaches into his back pocket, pulling out a card and passing it over to Caroline. "Get whatever you want. Whatever you need to feel better, but don't leave Bonnie's side. Don't do anything rash, and I will be keeping in touch. I will send you a photo of Marcel when I see him again, and I want you to stay away from him."

"Okay," Caroline says, figuring that was fair. "I'll be sending you guys pictures, so keep your phones on you too. Oh, and you also can't get mad at whatever I bring home, alright?"

Klaus narrows his eyes playfully, a crooked smile working its way across his full, pale lips. "Are you planning on bringing something home that I'm not going to like?"

"I'm not planning on it," Caroline defends herself, "but I'm just covering my bases."

Klaus gives her a look but nods. "Alright, love, if you need me to, I'll promise not to get mad at whatever you bring home."

Caroline nods, tucking a curly strand of blond hair behind her ear. "Good, thank you."

"Niklaus!"

Klaus rolls his eyes, looking droll. "And he calls."

"It's time for you to go," Caroline says, patting his arm. "I'm going to see if Bonnie is ready to go too." The two of them walk toward the front of the house together to see Elijah, Bonnie, and Stefan waiting for them. Bonnie is holding up Caroline's phone and wallet.

"Let's go, Care. If we're going to paint some rooms, or at least get started today, we're going to want to get going as soon as possible," Bonnie says. Caroline takes it and puts Klaus's card in there before looking between the two cars.

"Who's car are we taking?" Caroline asks Bonnie. Stefan runs his hands through his dark hair, letting a big sigh, basically answering her before Bonnie could even open her mouth. "Or are we carpooling..?"

Bonnie grins, holding up Stefan's keys. "Oh no, Care, we are riding in style."

Caroline's face nearly splits in two with her own grin. "Who's driving?"

"Bonnie, please," Stefan says, placing his palms together.

"Hey!" Caroline protests, voice indignant, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm a great driver!"

Stefan gives her a sideways glance. "A bunny hopped in front of us on Main Street, you literally closed your eyes and took your hands off the wheel. I thought we were going to die. Or at least kill everyone else on the street."

"You are being so over-dramatic Stefan!" Caroline sighs, shaking her head. "Fine, you don't want me driving the love of your life? I don't want to either." She waves her hand dismissively, pretending to be insulted. "Let's go, Bonnie!"

"Bye guys," Bonnie says, sliding over to the driver's side.

"Keep your phone on, Caroline," Klaus reminds her as the men walk over to his car.

"You too!" Caroline calls back. "And I mean all of you. I will be sending pictures and I expect a prompt response." She points at them. "If I don't get it, I'm going to assume on your behalf." A pause, then, "I might just anyway. But keep your phones on anyway."

* * *

Honestly, this was probably the best day Caroline has had in a while. And it was so great to have Bonnie there with her. She wished Elena could be there too, and she knew that she still had to admit to what's going on to her other best friend, but it was nice to get away from the drama for a little while and just go shopping with Bonnie.

They started at the paint shops, picking out a color for Bonnie, a pretty lilac purple for her room and then they got a lot of other colors too because Caroline can't decide what she wanted. Her room back in Mystic Falls was yellow, which she liked, but she didn't really want this one to be yellow. She's not sure what she wants, so she got a bunch of different colors, that way she can change her mind later if she wants.

Bonnie and Caroline huddled together when Klaus sent her a shot of their vampire enemy, Marcel Gerard. It was kind of a far away shot, so it was hard to make out a lot of the finer features of their supposed enemy, but it was enough that they would at least be able to keep an eye out for him, but seeing as Klaus was taking discreet pictures of him, they probably weren't going to let him out of their sights for now.

Caroline sent Klaus about a million messages about colors and furniture when the girls got their paints and then moved on and went to look for beds and couches and other things to fill that big house. She sent a bunch to Stefan too and even got Elijah's number from Klaus so that she could send some to him so that she knew what he was interested in for his room.

Thankfully, Bonnie is a saint and knew Caroline better than anyone else, and had a notebook already so that she could write down references and gather information and Caroline was so thankful for it. Doing this helped her forget about their situation. She is very project-oriented, and her friends know that. If Klaus had any problem with letting her go, no doubt one of them talked him into it because she needed to do this. She has to have something to do or she will lose her mind.

She needed this distraction.

And it wasn't just the shopping that had her distracted, it was also the crazy beauty of New Orleans too. All the people, the colors, the life. She's never been so far away from Mystic Falls, but it's still amazing to see how things could be so different. Despite the situation they were in, Caroline was happy to be able to see these sights with Bonnie. She wished Elena could be here. She wished that the situation could have been better. In fact, she wishes for a lot of things, but she is starting to accept her reality.

They dropped by this bar, Rousseau's, sitting up at the bar. They only really sat there for a few minutes before Bonnie got a call and had to step outside.

"You guys enjoying it here?"

Caroline looks forward to see the bartender standing in front of her. A pretty blond with beautiful blue eyes that Caroline is instantly jealous of. And when she smiled, Caroline thought she shined.

"Huh?" She blinks rapidly, pulling herself out of admiring the pretty bartender in front of her.

"You and your friend?" She nods toward Bonnie, who Caroline can see talking on her phone in the front of the bar windows. "You girls are definitely from out of town."

Caroline cringes a bit. "Is it that obvious?"

"A bit," the bartender admits, smiling sweetly, "but I was the same. Or I'm still the same. I'm pretty new here too. But you girls look like you've been having fun, to say the least."

"We are," Caroline admits before offering her hand. "I'm Caroline."

The bartender takes her hand and gives it a shake. "It's nice to meet you, Caroline. I'm Cami."

They smile at one another when Caroline spots someone stepping behind the bar and her jaw immediately drops at the sight of Sophie Deveraux. Her dark eyes find Caroline and widen in surprise. She looks around for a moment before walking over to the two blonds.

"Uh, hey. What's up?" Sophie asks, crossing her arms over her chest. She looks exhausted like she hasn't slept in the last two days. Which Caroline could understand, seeing as she hasn't been sleeping great too. At least she didn't wake up crying a bunch of times last night like she had the night before. But she was still restless.

"I was just stopping in to get something to eat," Caroline says slowly, grabbing her phone out of her pocket and sending a quick text to Bonnie, warning her not to come back into the store, that there was a witch there. She didn't dare look out the window in fear that it would draw attention to Bonnie. She remembers Bonnie saying that witches have a sixth sense about them, able to sort of sense when another is near if they are paying close enough attention to what is going around them.

Bonnie was supposed to be their secret weapon, the last thing she wanted to do was to reveal Bonnie before they were ready. That would definitely make Klaus very upset. No doubt about that.

"Oh," Sophie says, looking down at the bar top for a moment as Caroline sticks her phone between her thighs, hoping it wasn't obvious that she was texting in secret, "well, stay here. I'll make you some gumbo."

"I..." Caroline starts, but Sophie was already walking away toward the kitchen.

"She makes the best gumbo," Cami says, leaning in close. The bar wasn't super busy so she was able to spare a bit of time with Caroline. Which was nice, seeing as she was close to Caroline's age. Probably a few years older, seeing as she was bartending. "Once you have it, none of the others taste as good. Trust me, not a big gumbo eater, but Sophie makes the best."

Caroline nods, at this point, she was just hungry and eating helped her forget about blood. At least for a little while.

With Sophie gone, Caroline risks a peek out the front window to see that Bonnie was gone and let out a sigh of relief. After a few minutes, while Cami was off tending to another guest at the bar, Sophie returns to drop off the bowl of gumbo.

"Thanks," Caroline says awkwardly.

"You're welcome," Sophie says slowly. "Eat up, it'll be good for the baby. You need to be strong."

Caroline nods, not wanting to really talk about it with her. Sophie awkwardly stands around for a moment until Caroline affirms with an impressed, "It's really good," around a mouthful of gumbo before she nods, smiling lightly, before she turns away and heads back into the kitchen to keep working. Caroline finishes off the gumbo, nodding to the other bartender as she takes it away.

Someone sits down next to her. "Well, color me surprised. I honestly never thought that I would have run into you here."

Caroline freeze for a moment, her brain recognizes that voice immediately, making her head snap toward the young woman sitting next to her, blue eyes widening in surprise, sharing in the other's disbelief of the situation. Pretty dark eyes stare back at her with lips pressed tightly looking like she regretted having reached out, but also resigned to her choice. Needless to say, she looked uncomfortable.

"Hayley?" Caroline gasps in surprise, her voice a harsh whisper. "Hayley Marshall?"


	7. Honesty

**Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I hope you are all keeping safe out there in these turbulent times. Keep healthy and strong. Take care and thank you for taking the time to read my story! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

Hayley swallows, rubbing the ends of her fingers together. "Hi, Caroline. I'm surprised to run into you here, so far away from Mystic Falls."

"Yeah," Caroline says, flatly, running a hand through her hair. "You too."

They lapse into silence, both girls just sitting there, staring at the rack of alcohol behind the bar without talking. The last distinguishing memory that Caroline has of Hayley was of the girl breaking her neck and leaving her in a bathroom for April Young to find. Caroline was mad, and maybe a week ago she still would have been mad to see Hayley here, but now it feels like all of that is all beneath her at this point. The last thing she cares about is what Hayley Marshall was thinking that day, and why she did what she did.

Perhaps Caroline would have been a bit more tactful in approaching this situation, but all Caroline can think about is the fact that Hayley knows. Out of everyone in the city, Hayley knows.

"What are you doing here, Hayley?" Caroline asks, turning to look at the older woman next to her.

Hayley looks around for a moment before letting out a sigh and turning to look over at Caroline, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment before finally saying, "I am here in search of my family. I've tracked them down here, to New Orleans, but now I'm having trouble locating them."

"Did you just get into town?" Caroline asks, pushing her empty water glass away.

"This morning," Hayley says, fluffing her own hair. As soon as the two of them realized that they were both touching their hair, they both drop their hands onto the bar top, pressing their lips together as they stare at one another. Hayley looks just as uncomfortable as Caroline feels. "Okay," Hayley says like she feels like she has to fill the silence, "so what about you? What are you doing here?"

Caroline lets out a long-winded sigh. "It's complicated. The witches here are being oppressed by a vampire by the name of Marcel Gerard," she says softly, "so they wanted help in taking care of him, I guess, so they used me to bring him here."

Hayley's eyebrows pull together. "So... is this Marcel the reason that the wolves aren't anywhere in sight? I mean, do you think?"

Caroline raises her eyebrows, not having considered that before. She didn't know that werewolves were even in this city. She hadn't heard of any of them since she got here, so she can only assume, either they aren't here anymore, or they are so deep underground that she hasn't heard of them yet. But then again, she is aware that she hasn't been in the best place these last few days. Klaus and Elijah might know better than her, though.

"I don't know," Caroline says honestly, "but I don't see why he wouldn't be the reason for it. I didn't know that there was supposed to be werewolves here, but I haven't really been in the best of ways recently, so I'm not the person to be asking this." Caroline rubs at her shoulder a bit. "But if they are here, you're going to be sticking around for a while, aren't you?"

Hayley's eyebrows pull together and rise a bit. "I mean, yeah. Why wouldn't I? If my family is here, I would want to be with them."

Yeah, that's what Caroline thought. Which means now they have a new problem that Caroline's sure they are going to have to handle promptly before it gets out of hand. She's just got to think of a way to do that.

Hayley blinks a few times, considering, before asking, "Wait, did you say they used you to bring him here? Who's 'him'?"

"That would be me."

Caroline and Hayley both jump, Caroline nearly falling out of her chair if a hand on her back hadn't prevented her from doing that. She turns to look over her shoulder at Klaus standing just out of their peripherals. Caroline lets out a groan, rubbing at her forehead and with both her hands slide them through her hair as she lets out a whoosh of breath.

"Jeez, Klaus, you scared the life out of me," Caroline snaps, glaring at him, placing her hands over her chest as she turns around in her seat to lean against the bar so that she can face him.

Hayley sits completely frozen, her pretty green eyes pressed closed as if somehow he would just go away if she didn't acknowledge him. But surely she must feel his blue eyes burrowing into the side of her face. No doubt she's thinking about the role she played in Klaus losing all of his hybrids. She sucks in a deep breath before turning around to face him, no doubt realizing that he wasn't going to go away even if she pretended that he would. Her lips were pressed together tightly as she raises her eyes to his.

She's afraid, Caroline can see it. No doubt Bonnie got her message and notified Klaus. Or at least Stefan. But either way, someone had to of told Klaus or he wouldn't have known to come running.

"Hello, Klaus."

"You have an awful lot of nerve showing your face in front of me after what you did," Klaus growls, tilting his head down so that he was staring at her through long lashes. It's a dark look that Caroline knows means he's ready to start tearing the world apart. Starting with the person usually standing right in front of him.

"Trust me," Hayley says slowly, "if I had a choice, I definitely would never be standing before you again, but my leads led me here. My family is here. I know it."

Klaus narrows his eyes more, looking unimpressed. Caroline reaches out to touch Klaus's arm, hoping that would somehow satiate his anger a bit, which it seems like it does as his tense muscles relax a bit beneath her fingers.

"Klaus..." Caroline says softly.

"Fine," Klaus growls, "for Caroline, I won't kill you. Just stay out of our way, or I will quickly change my mind."

Hayley opens her mouth, looking like she's ready to agree when Caroline cuts in, "No, Klaus. She has to come with us. We need to talk to her. Away from here." They both look at her like she's crazy. She lowers her voice and whispers, "Sophie Deveraux is here. We have to get out of this shop before she starts to sense something is up."

She wraps the hand that is already on Klaus's arm, around it and uses it to help her balance as she steps off the stool and over her's and Bonnie's bags. She bends down, grabbing a handful and passing them over to him, which it took him a second to realize as she pried his hand open to drape the handles across his palms, before grabbing the rest.

"Come," Caroline says, then pauses, blinking rapidly. She doesn't remember if she paid for her food or not. So she wiggles around until she can grab out her wallet, dropping thirty bucks down on the table, hoping that it was enough to pay for the gumbo and give Cami a good tip, before leading them out. Or, leading Klaus out. When Hayley didn't immediately follow, Caroline turned to her and snaps, catching Sophie staring out at them from the kitchen curiously, "If you want to apologize for what you did to me, then come with us now, Hayley."

Caroline stares at the brunette until she sighs, standing up and follow after them.

* * *

Caroline sets down the bags just inside the front door as Klaus and Hayley walk in. Caroline brought Klaus and Hayley to Stefan's car, to which Klaus made the cheeky comment while he was climbing into the driver's seat, that "Stefan would have wanted it this way," much to her chagrin. It annoyed her but then she realized that she just didn't know the way back to the house anyway, and rather than live through the immediate embarrassment of having to ask Klaus for the address again to plug it into the GPS and then maneuver the streets to find the best way back, she'll let Klaus have the win.

She's magnanimous that way.

But once they made it back home, Klaus's car was already there, and now so was another. Fancy, so it no doubt belonged to Elijah, which makes sense, seeing as he was somewhere else in the world before he was in New Orleans. He didn't fly like a bat there. Caroline's guess would be that he drove. She could be wrong, but she's not sure that she is.

"Alright, we brought the traitor into our home, Caroline," Klaus snaps, dropping the cans on the ground without even the slightest care for the fact that they were actually paints and no something more malleable..

"Hey! Don't break those!" Caroline snaps back, glaring at him.

"What is going on, Caroline?" Klaus demands, turning dark blue eyes toward her. He crosses his arms over his chest, completely disregarding the paints that he could have broken.

"Care?" Bonnie calls, emerging from one of the side rooms with Stefan and Elijah right behind her. "Oh thank goodness, are you okay?" She walks over to Caroline, looking her up and down before placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Fine," Caroline growls, still glaring at Klaus. She gives Bonnie's hand a squeeze to show her best friend that she appreciated the thought but wasn't ready to back down from her glaring contest with Klaus.

"Who is our unexpected guest?" Elijah asks, giving Hayley a sideways look. Her arms were wrapped around herself, looking obviously uncomfortable and misplaced.

"Hayley Marshall," Caroline says, gesturing half-heartedly at the werewolf. "She's the werewolf that helped Tyler break the sire bond of Klaus's hybrids, which naturally pissed him off - "

Hayley cuts in, shrinking a bit at the look everyone was sending her, "Kinda wished that one could have been left without mention. I'm not sure there is a lot keeping Klaus from going all big bad wolf..." she mumbles, letting out a deep sigh.

Caroline binks a few times while Klaus glares at Hayley now, lips pressing tightly together in anger. Yeah, he probably didn't need Caroline to remind him of why he was mad at Hayley, to begin with. She definitely could have just let that one be. Klaus looks like he's airing on the side of control for the moment, but that's a thin line that he's treading and he looks like he's willing to give up on it soon. She can tell by the way he starts pacing around the foyer, hands folding behind his back while he turns his eyes up toward the ceiling.

"Okay, listen," Caroline says, realizing that she's losing control of this situation fast. "Hayley is here look for her family, right?" She looks over at the werewolf girl, who nods slowly, "And if her family is here, then she's going to be staying in New Orleans for a while."

"I'm not seeing why I should care about any of this? If I kill her now, she's not going to be a problem at all," Klaus says easily, turning on his heel to look at Caroline. He gives her a boyish, tight-lipped smile. She's not sure why he's trying to be cute. She's going to shoot him down anyway.

Caroline shoots him a dirty look. "We aren't going to kill her, Klaus, and by we, I mean you," Caroline says, crossing her arms over her chest. Naturally, Klaus's smile falls to a pouty frown. "Hayley has to be brought in on this if she's going to stay in town."

"Into what?" Hayley asks, stepping closer to Caroline.

"Are we sure that this is a good idea?" Stefan asks. He catches the look Hayley sends him. "Look, no offense, but you did kind of betray us, and use all of us for your own gain. I'm not sure if Klaus's anger isn't completely unjustified."

"Thanks for that," Hayley mumbles.

"Look," Stefan says, placating, walking over to the staircase and resting an elbow up onto it. "I don't think anyone should die, but I'm not sure how wise it is to bring someone into this that has already betrayed us without even batting an eyelash before."

"I agree with Stefan," Bonnie says, casting Hayley a sideways look. "Just let her go, we definitely don't have to hurt her, let alone kill her. Just send her on her way and we can forget about all of this."

"What did you mean by, apologize for what she did to you?" Klaus asks, curiously, throwing Caroline off her track.

"Huh? Oh, back at the bar?" Klaus nods. "She broke my neck back in Mystic Falls," Caroline says, waving her hand around dismissively when that dark look crosses Klaus's face again. "Don't worry about it. It's ancient history at this point. What I'm saying is, that if Hayley is going to be in town, she has to know what's going on or whatever little plan the two of you," she gestures between Klaus and Elijah, "have conjuring up in your evil mastermind skulls, is going to go to waste seeing as she knows I'm a vampire."

Klaus's expression falls completely flat. "So, we just kill her then. Very well, Caroline. I'm convinced."

"Klaus!" Caroline snaps. "That's not what I'm saying at all!"

Bonnie and Stefan both look at each other as Klaus turns his eyes up toward the ceiling once more, clicking his tongue. "Caroline," Klaus says easily, "I'm just going to fix this issue for us."

Caroline flashes between Hayley and Klaus in the nick of time. Thankfully, he's got good enough reflexes to stop before literally blowing her over. He stopped less than an inch from her, staring down into her eyes. So close, that if both of them filled up their lungs completely, their chests would touch. Caroline stares into his eyes.

"Move, Caroline," Klaus growls.

"No, Klaus. I told you, we aren't killing anyone!" Caroline snaps.

Klaus lets out a huff, lips pressed together tightly, with his eyes half-lidded. "You should just let me take care of this problem before it inevitably blows up in our faces."

"No! I told you, Klaus! No!" Caroline snaps again, glaring up at him. He wasn't going to get up into her face and scare her. She knew that he wasn't going to hurt her, let alone kill her. "I am just saying we have to do something to make sure that our problems don't multiply and all you can think to do is kill people? Klaus, you are unbelievable."

"What?" Klaus asks, indignant, genuinely looking confused. "Killing people does lessen my problems."

Caroline rolls her eyes. "You don't honestly believe that. I'm telling you, Klaus, you better not hurt her, or I swear to god..." she really didn't know how to finish that sentence, but she was going to let him use his imagination so that she didn't have to.

"Caroline, she's a liability," Klaus grounds out, casting a glare over her shoulder at Hayley.

"Klaus, she's a person. An innocent person who is trying to figure out her own problems and the only reason that she's here right now is that she knows that I'm a vampire. Now if it doesn't matter if someone so happened to ask her, and she tells the truth and we don't care one way or the other than she just goes now. But if we do care, we have to make sure that she doesn't say anything to anyone."

"Killing her sounds like the easiest way to do that," Klaus says flippantly, which grates on her last nerves.

"Oh my god, Klaus! We aren't going to kill anyone," Caroline snaps. "I'm going to kick you out of this house if you say that again! I'm asking you to be a decent person and after I've already said no, you keep on insisting on the same terrible thing! God, you are so infuriating!" Caroline was so fired up, yelling at Klaus that she hadn't realized that she was starting to fall over until Klaus grabbed hold of her to keep her steady.

"Caroline!" Bonnie gasps.

"Hey," Stefan calls, touching her shoulder as Klaus steadies her. "Are you okay? Come sit down."

Caroline shakes her head, pushing Klaus's hands away, still mad at him. "No, I'm fine. I'm just not back up to full strength from the car ride down here. I'm just done arguing. What are we going to do?"

"We should all go sit down," Elijah says, walking past Klaus to hold out a hand to Hayley. "Come, Ms. Marshall. We have much to discuss."

Hayley looks like she would rather have her eyes gouged out, but takes his hand slowly and follows him into the sitting room. Stefan helps Caroline after them and she slumps down in one of the approved couches that she and Bonnie let stay in the house. Bonnie sits down next to her as she lowers next to Hayley, offering her a small, sideways glance.

"Alright," Elijah says, sitting down on the other couch, unbuttoning his jacket while Stefan sits down next to him. Klaus, on the other hand, is standing at the head of the coffee table between the two couches. His arms crossed over his chest as he stares at Caroline, who is looking at everything and everyone other than him. "So, tell us about your plans."

Hayley looks around the room, no doubt feeling like she's trapped between a rock and a hard place before basically telling them the same thing she told Caroline at Rousseau's. Which Caroline already told them. Caroline just sinks into the couch, hungry and tired. The gumbo at Roussseaus was really good, but she was so freaked out over what was going on and running into Sophie that she didn't really get to enjoy her meal and get seconds. She hasn't really caught up on the food that she's missed, and she's been skipping meals because of stress and distraction.

Thankfully everyone has been so busy, no one has noticed, but Caroline knows that she's going to have to take better care of herself. Of all the things they did today, Caroline and Bonnie didn't get to go shopping. There is no food in the house. They are going to have to get on that as soon as possible.

"Alright, so this is easy," Stefan says, shrugging his shoulders. "You don't tell anyone about Caroline, in any form, and we leave you alone."

"How can we trust that?" Bonnie asks, eyebrows pulling together. Then, like she actually heard herself say those words, looking past Caroline to Hayley. "No offense."

Hayley looks down at her hands like they are the most interesting thing in the room. "None taken, I guess."

"I suppose we should start with the obvious," Caroline says, rubbing at her forehead. "What do we know about werewolves here in New Orleans?"

"There used to be werewolves here," Elijah says, leaning back into his seat like a king, crossing one leg over the other and rubbing at his chin in thought. "But now that you mention it, I haven't seen any werewolves in the Quarter since we got here." He blinks a few times, casting a look over at Klaus. "Have you heard anything?"

"The clan that used to roam these lands was the Crescents. A strong, noble pack," Klaus muses, walking around the back of the couch, stopping behind Hayley, who tenses up in worry, shoulders pulling in a bit as she feels Klaus's eyes on her. "Show me your back."

"That's a weird thing to ask," Bonnie says, giving Klaus a weird look.

Elijah raises his eyebrows. "Ah, if she's from a clan like that, then there is usually a birthmark if I recall."

"The crescents have a birthmark on their shoulder," Klaus says.

"They do..?" Hayley asks slowly, removing her cover to reveal a simple red tank top and sure enough, there is a discoloration on her shoulder that looks like a crescent moon birthmark. It's very distinctive. Caroline's blue eyes widen in surprise.

"Well, I guess you must be part of this crescent clan, Hayley, because that is very distinctive," Caroline says as she pulls her cover back up over her shoulders, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I guess so," Hayley says softly, looking a bit enchanted at finally getting a name for her pack. Caroline isn't a werewolf, she's not sure how all of that works, but in all the movies and stories that she's read or heard of, pack titles mean something. She has no idea about any of that, but surely Hayley must. Or maybe it's just about learning about a piece of herself that she didn't know before. Caroline kind of felt that way when she learned that the women in her family have problems with carrying children.

Guess now she understands why her family is so small.

"Okay," Stefan says, running his hand through his hair, "now that we know she's part of this clan, what do we know about this clan? And probably more recent history and not something from a hundred years ago."

Elijah leans back on the couch, letting out a small whoosh of breath. "Nothing good, I assure you. I've heard that the werewolves were being oppressed here for many years and suddenly, people stopped seeing them. From what I heard, they're all gone now." Elijah rubs at his chin, thoughtfully. "Well, all but one, I suppose."

Hayley rubs her shoulders before turning to look over at Caroline. "Okay, what's going on? Just tell me. Why does it matter that I know you're a vampire or not." She looks uneasy, and Caroline knows that feeling of not walking to be talked about anymore. To hear that the family that she's been looking for might be gone forever must be so hard to hear. Caroline can see Hayley kneading her cover so hard her knuckles turn white. And honestly, she looks like she's going to cry. But there is also a hardness to her expression like she's not ready to give up just yet.

"Well," Klaus says, walking back around to the head of the coffee table with his hands behind his back, "now that we know dear, sweet Hayley has no more reason to stay..."

"But she does," Stefan says, rubbing at his forehead. "The secrets of her family is here. One way or another. Which means she's going to be sticking around for a while. We aren't going to kill her, but I don't think we can trust her either."

"Then, for the time being, she stays here," Bonnie says, shaking her head and sighing. "If we can't trust her to keep her mouth shut then we might as well supervise her."

Hayley sinks back into the couch. "Great."

Caroline sighs, feeling bad for the brunette, understanding that feeling of claustrophobia. She turns toward Hayley, waiting for green eyes to meet her own blue ones before saying, "I'm pregnant."

Hayley blinks a few times in confusion. She just stares at Caroline, her brain trying to make the blond's words make sense to her. "What?"

"I'm a vampire who's pregnant with a miracle baby and the witches here in New Orleans wanted to use me - and the baby - to draw its father here to help them. But for some reason, they think I'm human. And Klaus and Elijah want to use that to our advantage. Which I'm all for, seeing as this might somehow help protect my baby, but if you say something..." Caroline trails off, staring into Hayley's eyes, hoping that she doesn't have to spell it out any more than she already has.

"This is about protecting your baby..." Hayley says softly, nodding slowly. "I... I understand." She stares at Caroline for a moment, then asks, "How did you do it? Get pregnant, I mean. Vampires are dead."

Caroline shakes her head, letting out a little laugh. "Believe me, I think the miracle baby's existence has more to do with the daddy than me."

"Who's the..." Hayley starts, then stops, looking up at the ceiling before turning a level green gaze toward Klaus. "I knew it. I knew I recognized that scent."

"What do you mean?" Caroline asks, eyebrows pulling together.

Hayley laughs, looking mildly amused, turning her eyes back to Caroline. "Werewolves leave their scent on everything they touch. Especially male werewolves, as a way of marking their territory. Whenever the four of us; you, me, Klaus, and Tyler were in the same room, there was an awful lot of that, wasn't there?" She gives Caroline a look. "They were both fighting over you. Marking you like their territory. But that's what men do, let alone men supercharged by the moon with anger issues."

Caroline makes a face at that. "Just by touching things - by touching people - they leave their scent behind?" Hayley nods. "Like lifting their legs and peeing on everything, like an actual dog?"

Hayley cracks a smile at that while Klaus glares at both of them. "Yeah, well, thankfully they've evolved past that, I think."

"Well, that's good, I guess," Caroline mumbles. "So just by touching, they leave their scent on you. For what? Forever?"

Hayley shakes her head. "No, it depends on the touch. A hand on the shoulder for a second will vanish in seconds, but something more meaningful, like holding someone in a hug or something longer will last longer." She gives her a meaningful look but when it's met with confusion, she says, carefully, "Sex with a werewolf leaves his scent on you for a while, so unless you have sex with another werewolf to cover up the first one, then it lingers far longer than most other acts. And by getting pregnant by a werewolf male, you carry his scent as a shroud around yourself and your baby."

Honestly, just by the quick glance around the room, it seems like Hayley was schooling all of them. Klaus was staring down at the coffee table contemplatively like he was storing all this information into the back of his mind for later.

"It's their way of showing other potential suitors that you're already carrying the child of another and to basically stay away," Hayley says, simply. "I knew the scent was familiar, but the baby is already starting to get a scent all it's own as it starts to grow. How far along are you?"

"Almost four months," Caroline responds, fascinated.

Hayley looks down at Caroline's stomach, pursing her lips a bit. "Well, it's starting to grow. I don't know anything about babies or pregnancy, but it seems like all is going well, as far as I can tell. Which, I'll repeat, is very limited."

Caroline looks down at her stomach, touching it, still not feeling anything. She imagines that the natural expansion of her stomach, while she's sitting, is the beginning of her baby growing, but she knows, when she stands up, her stomach falls flat once more. But maybe that's because she's not far enough along yet to start showing.

Hayley watches Caroline lightly touch her stomach for a moment, a soft expression crossing her face. "I know this all must be scary, Caroline, and you don't have any reason to trust me, but I promise, I'm not going to compromise the safety of your baby. I know what it's like to grow up without parents. I'm not going to do that to your baby by revealing this secret."

She shouldn't she knows that she shouldn't, but Caroline believes her. She's really worried that she's going to make the wrong decision when it comes to the life growing inside of her, but she honestly believes her. Hayley seems like her family is the one thing that she would do anything for. And so long as the safety of Caroline's baby has nothing to do with Hayley's family, she thinks that it'll be safe for her to keep the secret. At least, not until something inexplicable changes.

At least, she hopes so.

"Well," Caroline says, climbing to her feet and turning toward Hayley, "looks to me like you'll be staying with us for a while. So come with me, Hayley and pick your room."

* * *

They roped Hayley into helping them paint. It was awkward at first, but it at least gave them something to do without really having to speak to one another, while listening to music off of Caroline's phone. And Stefan decided to help out, now that he was home, and Elijah, for a moment, until something called his attention away, a contact in town reaching out to him about what was going on, and then Klaus barged his way into it too. Thankfully the cans that Klaus handled before were alright.

So they started with Bonnie's room, seeing as she actually had a color that she liked and no furniture to deal with, they got started. Stefan and Hayley started taping everything up and removing covers for outlets while Bonnie mixed the paint and Caroline and Klaus started working on the harder to reach areas that called for a bit more precision. Caroline with her neurotic need for it to be perfect and Klaus with his steady hand from years of painting made a good and efficient team.

Thankfully with the five of them, they were able to get Bonnie's room done in a really good amount of time. They were just about done with some final touches when Caroline suggested that they start on the next room, which was going to be Stefan's as he could have actually settled on a color. Klaus and she would finish the rest.

Klaus waited until they were both sitting down under the window painting the small space before saying, softly, "I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't mean to make you mad."

"Are you sorry about what you said, or are you sorry that it made me mad?" Caroline asks, casting him a withering look.

"Honestly?" Klaus asks, staring at her through long lashes.

Why does she feel like she's not going to like this answer? "Preferably, yeah."

"I'm sorry it made you mad, more than anything." And that would be why. But at least he was honest.

"Listen, Klaus," Caroline says, laying the paintbrush down on the plastic covering the carpet to look at him, "the cycle of violence has got to stop. We have so much to talk about, but this is something we should talk about now. We have to be better, Klaus. Better than our own parents. We have to be on the same page. Our baby is more important than anything else."

Klaus lets out a slow breath. "I couldn't agree more. But keep in mind, love, that a thousand years separate us, and I'm... trying." Klaus goes about finishing the last remaining spots on the wall before laying the brush down next to hers.

"That's all I can ask for," Caroline says, letting out a little sigh of her own. "And I know that we are going to fight about a lot of things because I'm neurotic and your psychotic, but this is good." Klaus grins at her words, eyebrows raised. "And we will fight. We will fight about a lot of things, as I said. But talking about it is the best thing that we can do. The best way we can keep our promise is to keep talking to each other."

Klaus tilts his head a bit. "Our promise?"

Caroline holds up her pinkie finger between them. "Our promise is this; no matter what happens we are going to be there for our baby. No matter how long it's been since we last spoke, or what we feel for each other, we will always be there for our baby when it needs us. Whether it's five, twenty-five or three hundred and five. We'll be there. We'll work together. Because before everything else, our baby is more important."

Klaus looks down at her finger before looking back up at her. "Caroline, there isn't a need for this."

"Klaus, promise," Caroline insists, holding her hand up a bit more. "If we get into a huge fight and vow to never be in the same room as one another, let alone the same continent, that if our baby needs us, we'll come together. For our baby, we'll come together. We'll talk. We'll figure it out."

Klaus sighs. "I promise."

"You better give me your damn pinkie, Klaus Mikaelson," Caroline growls which makes Klaus smile. With a shake of his head, he brings up his own hand, locking pinkies with her own.

"No matter what," Klaus says, his voice soft and his eyes dark, "for our child, we will come together. I swear it."

"I swear too," Caroline says, nodding her head. Caroline lifts her eyes to look outside, seeing that it's starting to get dark out.

They are going to have to spend another night in the hotel, but thankfully their furniture should start to show up tomorrow evening. So Caroline and Bonnie - and now Hayley, it seems, so Caroline is going to have to remember to call the furniture store in the morning to order another bed for her - are going to have to get here early so that they can keep painting.

"Okay," Caroline says, pulling her hand away and pushing to her feet, leaning down to pick up the paintbrushes, "let's go help them get as much of this done as we can before tomorrow."

Klaus nods, following after. "Be careful, Caroline, paint isn't good for a baby, either. Be sure to keep the windows open so the room is properly vented."

"Okay," Caroline agrees, honestly not having thought of that, but glad that someone was. "We'll be careful."

By the time Caroline and Klaus clean up the rest of Bonnie's room, pulling up the plastic sheets and tape before they move on to Stefan's room, they already finished tapping up the room and cracked open the paint. Klaus takes the brushes and goes to clean off the brushes while Caroline moves to help her friends. Bonnie, Hayley, and Stefan are talking about the next few days. About how Hayley was on lockdown until they learned more about the werewolves and what happened to them. Basically, Caroline and Bonnie were going to be looking after Hayley and she was just going to have to be okay with that.

She was understandably reluctant, but agreed for now, which is good. But Caroline does feel bad. Hopefully, this won't last for very long.

They got the first wall almost done when Caroline hears the front door to the house open, which isn't a surprise, since they all wanted her either against the wall with the open window or next to the door so that she wasn't just breathing in paint fumes. So she was probably the only one who heard him walking into the house over the sound of music playing through Caroline's phone.

"Elijah's home," Caroline announces about half a second before Elijah calls out, "Niklaus!"

Klaus purses his lips, sighs, and stands up. "He calls, again."

"It sounds urgent," Stefan says as Bonnie grabs Caroline's phone and hands it over to the blond. She turns off the music, as Caroline and the rest of them pile out to see what the older Mikaelson brother is yelling about.

"Niklaus!" Elijah calls again.

"I hear you, Elijah, I'm not deaf," Klaus grumbles, descending the staircase.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asks, a step behind Stefan. Caroline is behind the Bennett witch and the residential werewolf is one step behind her.

"Jane-Anne Deveraux," Elijah says, watching them descend. His jaw is set hard, eyes locked onto his brother.

"What about her?" Klaus asks, voice dark.

"I just watched Marcel drag her into the streets for performing magic, Niklaus." Klaus stops once he reaches the bottom of the stairs, full lips parting. At his look, Elijah says, "She's dead. Marcel killed her."


	8. Pressing onward

**Author's Note: And here is another chapter. Never underestimate my ability to bullshit through an entire chapter. I can do it. XD Enjoy!**

Caroline suddenly feels sick to her stomach, thinking about the other woman. Caroline didn't trust her, not at all, but that didn't mean that she wanted her to die, and to be honest, Jane-Anne was nothing but nice to her despite it all. Caroline can understand that they were afraid and they were using Caroline and the baby growing in her belly as a way of convincing Klaus to stick around and help them. Or well, get him here, she supposed. But they were really running the gamble to see if he would have actually stayed.

To be honest, before all of this - had someone asked her a week ago - Caroline would have assumed that the only real interest that Klaus had in her stemmed from the chase. He was a werewolf after all, ergo, a predator and enjoyed the thrill that came with a pretty girl not even willing to offer him the time of day. He was just enough of a mess to find pleasure and amusement in it.

Klaus didn't really strike her as a catch and release sort of guy, so when she finally let in and had sex with him, she thought for sure that would have been the end of it. He would have gotten what he wanted and then moved on with his life. But he didn't. And she's still not sure she completely understands why, but now isn't the time to question it.

But Jane-Anne Deveraux died doing magic that proved Klaus was the father of her baby, Caroline can't help but feel somewhat responsible for her death.

"So that proves it," Stefan says as Caroline slowly sits down on the last step as everyone else crowds around, "somehow Marcel can tell when witches are doing magic."

"Not just when, but also who," Elijah says, turning to look at Bonnie. "Do you know of any spell that can do that?"

Bonnie shakes her head. "No, and I don't think that it's a spell, either." She crosses her arms over her chest, face falling into that look of deep concentration that she gets whenever she's utilizing that big brain of hers to the fullest. "I've been doing a bit of reading about New Orleans witches and I think that I might have something, but it's just a theory. I don't have any proof."

"Well, I'm all ears, love," Klaus says flatly, looking annoyed. Not necessarily at her, but at the situation.

"The witches here practice ancestral magic, right?" She waits for the two oldest amongst them to nod in agreement. "Well, I've been thinking, magic like that has to be linked. It's probably why they were able to make powerful enough linking magic to be able to sustain the lives of dozens of babies from say, at least New Orleans to Virginia, all while feeding off the magic of this land. So, what I'm saying, is I think that all the magic drawn from the ancestors of New Orleans goes in the form of a circle. The witches feed them power, and they feed it back. Do you get it?"

"No," Caroline and Hayley say at the same time. They both share a look. Caroline turns to look over at Bonnie. "Can you explain it in a way my pregnant brain can understand?"

"Witches the practice Ancestory Magic draw upon the power of those that have died," Bonnie says, then looks over at Klaus and Elijah. "Am I right?"

"Yes," Elijah says, sticking his hands into his pockets. "When members of the nine covens here in New Orleans die, their bodies are consecrated in a sacred ritual so that their magic returns to the pool of power for the ancestors. So, the ancestors loan their power to their living coven, and when those witches die, their magic is returned to their ancestors. That is the metaphorical circle, Miss Bennett was referring to."

Bonnie nods slowly, biting the nail of her thumb on her right hand, organizing her thoughts. "So then... it's a closed circuit."

"A... closed circuit?" Hayley asks slowly. "What does that mean?" At the look they give her, she quickly amends, "I know what a closed circuit is, I just don't understand it in this context. Unless..." she blinks a few times. "This is all about the magic."

Bonnie nods. "Yes. This leads me to believe that I might know how they are keeping the witches here under such stringent watch." She starts walking around the room, dark eyes flickering back and forth. "So the power has to come from the ancestors, as the stronger force, meaning they can approve of who uses the power. But something tells me this is beyond their control. So that means..."

"Hijacked," Caroline supplies when Bonnie doesn't immediately continue. Everyone looks down at her. Caroline flushes, feeling like she has to defend herself from their skeptical gazes. "I mean, if the ancestors have control - or they should have control but now they don't, doesn't that mean the power itself was hijacked. Or, at least the ability to control it?"

"Sort of," Bonnie says, pointing at Caroline. "Not exactly but you're on the right track. Jane-Anne Deveraux was able to use magic, right? That's how she was able to convince you that Klaus was the father."

"Yes," Klaus says slowly, folding his arms behind himself. "Some kid spell. To identify the mother and father."

Bonnie gives him a look like she wanted to ask him something, but then decided it didn't matter and continues on with her original point, "So, they still have access to magic, which means that they are still linked to their ancestors, thus still holding the ability to use magic, but it almost seems like to me, that someone is standing in between the two."

"They can't actually stop the magic from being used," Elijah says slowly, pointing at Bonnie, "but they do know when it's being used."

Bonnie nods. "And judging by the fact that Jane-Anne is dead unless the witches have a mole in their midst - which they might, I don't know enough yet to rule anything out. This person can also see who is performing the magic."

"But not what was being performed," Elijah says slowly, looking over at Klaus. "Marcel didn't know what the spell was that Jane-Anne used, just that she was using magic."

Caroline shakes her head, letting out a long sigh. "What a silly thing to die for. Just to prove that Klaus was the father."

"It doesn't make sense," Stefan says, propping his arm up onto the end of the banister. "I don't understand what the witches are after. They wanted Klaus here, so they used the fact that Caroline wouldn't be physically strong enough to carry his hybrid baby, to get her here, and use his affection for her, to ensure that he followed."

"That seems pretty straight forward to me," Hayley says, shrugging her shoulders. "What do they want from Klaus? For him to kill Marcel?"

"No, that's the thing," Stefan says, casting her a sideways look. "They want to handle Marcel their own way. It's almost like they want him to be a distraction to both Marcel and the witch working for him."

"But there is no guarantee that would work," Caroline points out. "I mean, not to pretend like we don't all know Klaus here, but let's say in an alternate universe he's able to keep his nose out of everyone else's business." Klaus looks over at Caroline, amused, with a closed-lipped smile and raised eyebrows, while Elijah's lips quirk a bit. "What's to stop him from just hanging around me the entire time we're here, breathing down my neck like a creep, instead of helping them?"

"Maybe their hedging their bets on him being nosy?" Stefan guesses.

"Okay, but let's say for argument's sake I don't buy that," Caroline says, slowly climbing to her feet. "What other way could they have to be able to keep Klaus here, and get him to help them?" Caroline looks around the room at everyone. "If they were all so desperate to get him here, they wouldn't just rely on his nature to ensure that he stayed. It would have to be something else. Something more tangible that they could use."

"True," Hayley says, pressing her lips together in thought for a moment. "I mean, it would have to be something that Klaus wouldn't dare to lose. They were essentially threatening him, right? Or am I reading that wrong?"

"They didn't really threaten him," Caroline says, wrapping her arms around herself, as if suddenly cold. "I mean, they just told him about being the father to my baby." Caroline shakes her head, eyebrows pulling together. "Wait a second..."

"Care?" Bonnie asks, staring at her. "What's wrong?"

Caroline looks down at the ground for a moment, rubbing at her forehead. "Wait!" She looks up, locking eyes with Elijah. "Do you remember when Klaus was being his usual lovable self, yelling about how he wouldn't be controlled and this baby wasn't going to be used against him and all that. Remember that?"

Klaus frowns as Elijah nods. Klaus quickly jumps in, feeling like he has to defend himself. "Listen here, I've been alive a thousand years and - "

"No, Klaus, listen!" Caroline says, holding up her hands to stop him. "This isn't an attack against you. Listen. I think they showed us, without showing us, what they have against you. Their tool to keep you working with them. They had to make sure that it worked, so they did." Klaus stares at her with a frown pulling at his full lips.

"What are you thinking, Caroline?" Elijah asks, stepping closer.

"How did they get him out of his tangent, Elijah? What did they say to get him to listen to them?" Caroline asks, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach.

Elijah blinks a few times, looking over at Klaus. They stare at one another, both going back to that day to try and remember what happened. The fact that neither of them seems to know the answer right off the back makes her even more anxious that as soon as their eyes turn to look back at her she's already blurted it out.

"Me," Caroline says softly, looking at Klaus. "They have me. They got Klaus to focus on me over his anger and indignation. Their weapon against you, Klaus, is me."

Klaus's blue eyes widen a bit as if realizing the truth as Elijah utters, "Hey, are you saying you don't care about Caroline?" He shakes his head, looking down at the hardwood, jaw working. "That's what she said."

"And you came to me," Caroline says softly, running her hands through her hair again, feeling the stress pulling at her shoulders.

"They didn't have to elaborate any further," Elijah says as Klaus's expression blackens in anger. "We didn't even give them time to get to their threat. Once they realized you were just going to listen because of Caroline, they didn't need to add anything else."

"So if Klaus doesn't do as they ask..." Caroline says slowly, looking around the room, "what are they going to do to me?"

"Nothing," Klaus growls. "If these witches know what's good for them, they won't think to lay a hand on you."

"And so long as they think that you're helping them, they won't," Stefan says, rubbing at the back of his neck. "We're just going to have to figure out what they plan to use on Caroline to convince Klaus to work with them, and find a way to stop them." He reaches out and touches Caroline's shoulder. "Don't worry. We aren't going to let anything happen to you. I promise."

"They aren't going to hurt you, Care," Bonnie says. "I'll stop them."

Caroline looks down at her hands; anxiety and fear washing over her. "It's not me. I don't care about me. If they hurt me, they are going to hurt my baby..." she says softly. She raises her eyes to look around the room, stopping once her eyes find Klaus's - his dark and angry, ready to take on the world. "Don't let them do it, Klaus, please. Use your crazy big evil mastermind brain to come up with a plan." Her lips press together tightly. "Don't let those witches hurt our baby."

Klaus stalks across the circle to Caroline, placing his fingers on her chin and jawline, looking into her eyes. "No one will hurt our baby. No one."

"I'm not strong enough to protect our baby," Caroline says, staring down at her shivering hands, trying to decide if it's from her own turbulent feelings or from the lack of food.

Klaus applies a tiny bit of pressure just beneath her chin so that she can look up at him again. "I will deal with the physical things, you worry about the hardest part. Keep that baby safe and healthy in your belly until it's nice and ready to come out."

* * *

No one trusted Hayley to leave their sights, so she took Stefan's bed, Bonnie and Caroline shared their's, Klaus and Elijah had their own and Stefan got the short stick and slept on the floor of the hotel room. Not much else got done after that, but it did leave all of them thinking. Bonnie stayed up well into the night asking Elijah and Klaus all sorts of questions about Ancestral magic and then spent more time reading through the grimoires that she had.

Even though the lights were out and everyone was in bed by almost one o'clock, no one seemed to sleep. Caroline listened to everyone breathe deeply and roll around in their beds - Stefan's being a pile of blankets and pillows - the whole night. Thankfully she didn't cry. She just stared at the ceiling wondering how she was going to get through this.

Caroline sits up, sliding out of the bed to walk over to the table on the other side of the room to grab her phone off the charger. She unplugs it and slinks into the bathroom, pulling up her contacts and calls her mom. She knows that it's late and her mom is probably asleep, but she needs to talk to her. She's told her mom a bit about what is going on - not that she's pregnant, but that they have to stay in New Orleans for a little while - but she just wants to talk to her mom for a bit of clarity.

Liz was always good at that. She knew how to make Caroline feel better. Maybe it was a secret mom power. Caroline prays that she is able to get this ability by the time she has her baby.

Caroline keeps the light off and slightly closes the door to the bathroom and sits down on the floor. She knows that everyone is probably still awake and if she peaks back into the room, she can see the bed Klaus is sleeping on through the darkness. She keeps her voice down and calls her mom, even though everyone was probably awake, but she still wanted to be considerate of them. It takes a few rings but Liz picks up.

"Hey, sweetie. What are you doing up?"

"I can't sleep," Caroline says softly. "I just wanted to hear your voice. Are you at work?"

"Yeah, I'm working the night shift tonight. I'm just driving around town, keeping an eye out. What about you? How was your day?"

"It's fine," Caroline says, drawing her knees up to her chest. "We were doing a lot of shopping, Bonnie and I. Klaus got a house for us to stay in but it's like, really old and a lot of stuff inside had to go. We're repainting some of the bedrooms. We already finished Bonnie's..."

Liz is quite for a few moments, considering, before asking, softly, "You aren't going to be coming back in a week or two, are you?"

Caroline sighs, rubbing her forehead. "No. It's going to be a while before we can come back, I think. So... I'm going to need my homework sent to me. My books and everything - same as Bonnie. Break is almost over so we should get something set up so that we can get our homework and stuff."

"Caroline, what's going on?" Liz asks softly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Caroline says, resting her chin on her knees. "There's something I have to tell you, but I'm not sure how to say it. I'm going to need some time to think of a way to talk about it but know that I'm okay. I'm not hurt. I'm fine. I have Bonnie and Stefan. Klaus too and his brother Elijah is also here. And just today we ran into Hayley."

Liz is quiet for a moment, no doubt fighting the instinct to insist that Caroline just tell her what was going on, but Caroline is so thankful that she doesn't ask about it, no matter how much she no doubt wants to. "Okay... and Hayley is?"

"Oh, when Tyler was in the Appalachians or whatever, he met Hayley, she helped him control his shift. I met her shortly after he came back. She's... kind of a friend..." Caroline says slowly. She runs her hand slowly through her hair, knowing that her tone left a clear opening to questions she wasn't sure she wanted to answer.

"Right..." Liz says. "And is Hayley really a friend, Caroline?"

Caroline is quiet for a moment, not sure she's willing to go that far. Maybe things will change, maybe they won't but Caroline is willing to give the benefit of the doubt. "Well... she's not an enemy. She's looking for her family and it led her here. So we are all kind of sticking it out together for now."

Liz sighs. "Just, please be careful, alright? I hate that I can't be there with you."

"Of course I'll be careful, and I know." Caroline rubs at her forehead, finally getting tired now that she's spoken to Liz. "I should let you go now. Have a good night."

"I love you, Caroline, be safe."

Caroline smiles, wishing that she could reach through her phone to hug her mom. "I love you too."

"Don't worry about school. I'll talk with your teachers, and Bonnie's."

"Thank you. Love you."

"Love you too. Goodnight, Caroline."

"Goodnight, mom."

Caroline hangs up her phone and sits there for a moment, just quietly thinking about Liz and how much she missed her. She was going to have to tell the truth about the baby soon. She would much rather do it face to face. Maybe she could find some way to go home for a few days to talk with Liz and Elena about what was going on face-to-face.

Caroline does the math in her head. It's just about February. So she's actually over four months. She needs to go see a doctor at some point, just to confirm everything again. But that scares Caroline more. She doesn't feel like she has a baby growing inside of her. Maybe the baby is that malnourished that it simply isn't growing fast enough. Caroline doesn't know but maybe she should speak to someone who would know better than her - like a doctor. Although, Caroline does know that she's not eating enough and if she wants to avoid getting a good scolding from everyone, that's going to have to change.

She's got to start taking better care of herself, she knows. But she is honestly stressing like no one would believe. She feels as if everything is out of her control and it is terrifying.

Caroline pushes herself to her feet, slipping back into the quiet room, plugging her phone back in on the table, flipping it over so the screen won't light up the room, before crawling back in bed next to Bonnie and rolling onto her side, closing her eyes and willing herself to sleep. Thankfully, she slipped to sleep almost immediately.

They get up early in the morning, packing up the hotel and putting as much as they can into Stefan's and Klaus's cars as they go back to the house. Stefan, Bonnie, and Hayley in one car while Caroline, Elijah, and Klaus were in the other one.

Caroline sits in the back as Klaus drives and Elijah sits in the passenger seat. She waited until the store that they ordered their furniture in opened before giving them a call.

"Hello, this is Caroline Forbes, I'm calling about the furniture being delivered to my house later on today..." Caroline says, turning her eyes out the window, watching as they drive past the busy streets of New Orleans. "Yes, I needed to add a bed to that order. Yeah, I need six beds now. No, I have five ordered right now, and I need to make it six. No, I don't want eleven, I want six. The total is six. No, I said I already have five ordered I just need to add one more. Six. One more than five, one less than seven. Six. Yes, thank you! And you know what? Please go back over my order so I know everything is correct," Caroline says, sighing as she digs out her notebook and flipping to the correct page. "Okay go."

She waits as he pulls up her information - which she thought he was already looking at?

"Forbes, Caroline," Caroline says. "F-O-R-B-E-S. What? That's impossible! I was just there yesterday. I need these beds by tonight. It's got to be. I put it under my name. Wait, we were just talking about my... okay, you know what? Nevermind. Could it be under the credit card I used? Klaus Mikaelson? Mikaelson. Mikaelson."

Caroline looks up to see Klaus staring back at her from the rearview mirror with raised eyebrows, looking amused, which just makes her even madder.

"Mikaelson. M-I-K-A-E-L-S-O-N. No, no 'c'. Klaus. K-L-A-U-S. Do you even have a Mikaelson?" Caroline groans, dropping her head back against the seat. "Listen to me. What was your name again? Brett? Listen, Brett, spelling Mikaelson the way I did, do you at least have a name under that order? Yes? Great! That's the only one? Even better! What's the first name? Are you kidding me? I'm Caroline! Caroline Forbes! You took my name and... you know what? I don't care anymore. Just tell me the order."

As he goes over the order with her, Caroline had to shoot daggers with her eyes at Klaus when his met her own in the rearview mirror. She can see those pretty, full lips spread in an amused smile that just fuels her anger more. And even Elijah has a hand covering his mouth as he stares out the window. And he's cleared his throat more than once. And every time he does, Klaus's smile grows just a little bit more.

Caroline was so busy glaring at the brothers that she almost missed what he was saying. "No, six beds. Come on, Brett, we just talked about it. What...? You thought I was talking about a different..?" Caroline's jaw drops, unable to believe what's happening right now. Someone has to be playing a joke on her. "Brett, are you messing with me right now? You're killing me, I'll tell you. I don't know, Brett, you tell me? Why was this the most difficult conversation of my entire life?" Caroline sighs. "Just make sure there are six beds on the order, Brett."

Caroline bulks, pulling the phone away from her ear, leaning forward in her seat to look between the two brothers. Elijah who was blinking slowly while trying to keep his face impassive as he looks out the window, and Klaus who was more than enough visibly amused for both of them.

As soon as she leaned forward, Klaus says, "Don't say it, Caroline. I don't know if Elijah's stoicism can survive it."

"This fucking kid just asked me what name I wanted to put this order under."

Elijah coughs to cover his smile while Klaus laughs, his entire face lighting up with mirth, shaking his head. Caroline might have found it cute if she didn't feel like she was somehow in the twilight zone.

Caroline leans back into her seat, putting the phone to her ear, her voice calm, "Mikaelson, Brett. Put under the Mikaelson order." She marks her own notes. "Okay, now go over the order one more time. Good, good, good, yes. Thank you, Brett. I wasn't sure we were both going to survive this call, but I'm so glad we did! Now, when will that be delivered?" She waits a moment, before sputtering in disbelief, "My order, Brett! When will my order be delivered? Mikaelson! Brett! The order name is Mikaelson! Thank you! Sweet lord! Thank you! Alright, we'll be there! No, I won't fill out a survey, I can promise it's not going to make either of us happy. Don't ever ask anyone to do that ever again, for your own sake. Goodbye Brett. Stay in school."

As soon as she hung up, she looks over at Elijah first, who was rubbing at his face, trying to keep what little bit of composure he still has under wraps, while Klaus was actually laughing, rubbing tears from his eyes.

He pulls into the driveway as Caroline says, "I feel like I had an aneurysm and truly died over thirty seconds ago."

Caroline leaves the car as both brothers laugh, making sure that she had her notebook and purse before she does. Stefan, Bonnie, and Hayley look at the car with two brothers as they both calm down, exiting the car.

"What's wrong with them?" Stefan asks.

"They got to witness the literal shaving of a hundred years off my life from a conversation with a sixteen-year-old boy who needs to stop working at his dad's store, that's what," Caroline groans. She glances over at Klaus as he wipes away mirthful tears, sending her a charming smile when their eyes met. "My pain makes you stronger, doesn't it?"

"Yours and others," Klaus says, amused.

Bonnie and Stefan both shrug their shoulders before starting to grab everything out of the car and into the house. Once everything is moved out of the cars, the guys head out to run back into town. They were going to do recon and Klaus wants to both lay down the groundwork to finally revealing himself to Marcel, while Elijah was looking in on the witch's angle and Stefan was going to figure out where the werewolves were.

"I'm not sure as the only vampire that can't survive vampire bites, I should be the one to go..." Stefan says slowly, crossing his arms over his chest with a quirked eyebrow. They all stand around the front yard, finishing up discussing their plans before the men head out.

"Do you intend to get close to Marcel using your long history?" Klaus asks, giving him a sideways look.

"No," Stefan says, making a face.

"Thought not," Klaus says.

"Don't worry," Caroline says, patting Stefan on the shoulder. "If you get a werewolf bite, Klaus will be more than happy to give you his blood so that you would be okay." She gives Klaus a look, which he returns with an amused high browed one of his own.

"I'm sure you'll be alright, Stefan," Klaus says, turning his gaze toward the youngest male vampire.

Stefan raises his arms in surrender. "Right."

"You'll let me know if you hear anything, won't you?" Hayley asks. "I want to be able to talk to them myself. They are my family after all."

Stefan nods. "I will."

"Be careful with Marcel, brother," Elijah says, turning to look at the blond next to him. "How he is alive now alludes me. I thought for certain that he was dead."

Klaus's face falls somber. "Yes, curious as to how he survived Mikael's attack."

"So the fire was all Mikael's doing?" Caroline asks, wrapping her arms around herself. "You're certain?"

Elijah and Klaus nod as the former supplies, "Yes, I held him off while Niklaus and Rebekah fled. It was a tumultuous and trying time for all of us. We are fortunate to have made it away with our lives."

"That's got to really suck," Hayley says softly, still standing close to Caroline, no doubt still seeing her as the only person who cares just enough to stand between her and Klaus. "I mean, to be chased around the world by your own dad? And he wants to kill you on top of it? That sucks. Big time."

"Yes..." Elijah says softly, casting Hayley a steady look. "Not the finest times."

"Well," Bonnie says, having been leaning on Klaus's car, writing down a list in Caroline's notebook. She rips out the pages and passes them over to Stefan, who was closest to her, "I'm going to get started on things here, once you guys get back. One of you needs to pick up those items for me, and someone also needs to do some shopping. While we're here cleaning the place up, painting and getting everything in order, the least one of you can do is make sure food finds it's way to us."

"Oh!" Caroline bounces over, snatching the papers from Stefan's hand, looking down at them. She notes the first one is herbs, which she wasn't interested in for a moment. She hands that back to Stefan before plucking the pen from Bonnie's offered hand and scribbles down a few more items, pleased to see that her friend knows her well enough to place quite a few of her favorite foods down. She writes down anything extra that she can think about before passing to Hayley, the last person that actually needs to eat.

Caroline turns to Stefan. "I can't stress this enough. Are you listening to me?"

Stefan nods, folding up the piece of paper and sticking it into his pocket. "You've got my undivided attention."

"Okay," Caroline says, cupping his face with and staring into his eyes, "Macaroni and cheese. I can't stress this enough. If you don't get the Kraft macaroni, you can't come home, understand?"

Stefan's eyebrows shoot to his hairline. "Yes, ma'am."

Caroline turns to Elijah, now placing her hands on his shoulders. "Listen to me, Elijah. I know we don't know each other but if you care even a little bit for Baby growing inside of me, in your efforts to learn more about the witches, you will get me gumbo from Sophie Deveraux. She works at Rousseau's. It's delicious and Baby really wants some. A big bowl, Elijah."

Elijah nods, smiling lightly. "Who am I to deny what Baby wants?"

"Excellent!" Caroline grins. "I am starving so that would be great! Thank you." She turns around, making eye contact with Klaus as Hayley finishes scribbling down whatever extra that she wants and passing the pen and paper back to Stefan. "And you," Caroline says. Klaus smiles at her, folding his hands behind his back. "You be good. You've got the mischievous look in your eyes."

"I always have mischief in my eyes," Klaus says proudly. "It's my trademark." He smiles down at her as she steps closer.

"Be good. The last thing we need is to make more enemies, okay? There is something going on here and we need a wider view on what's going on before we do anything... mischievous."

Klaus leans in close to her, smiling wolfishly. "As I'm sure you already know, Caroline, but I can be a very patient man." Caroline flushes, not sure if he's referring to his pursuit of her, or when it comes to his devilish plans, but either way, so long as he keeps to observing and planning in secret, then they should be okay. At least, she hopes so.

"Good," she says, "alright, ladies, to work! Stefan, mac and cheese, Elijah, gumbo, don't forget."

"Are you going to eat them together?" Stefan asks, half-joking, half-serious.

Caroline glares at him. "Maybe, I'll have to feel the moment."

Stefan crinkles his face. "Good to know."


	9. The Distraction

**Author's Note: Sorry about the wait, my loves! Thank you for all of your kind words, they really help inspire me to keep going, so thank you for taking the time to say it! I just love hearing from you guys. I'm having some mixed feelings about this chapter but I hope that you enjoy it anyway! Let me know what you think! Enjoy and stay safe out there! Keep healthy!**

"Klaus? Klaus?" Caroline calls, marching down the stairs and heading into the sitting room to find the person that she was looking for, drinking bourbon and staring into the unlit fireplace as if lost in thought. "Klaus! Did you not hear me calling?"

"Caroline," Klaus says, taking a sip, "I think your friends in Mystic Falls heard you yelling."

"Well, why didn't you answer me?"

He downs the rest of his drink, setting the glass onto the mantle before turning around to look at her with a bland expression. "I've been busy thinking. What can I do for you, love?"

Caroline crosses her arms over her chest and leans on one hip. "What are you doing today?"

Klaus gives her a curious look, grabbing his empty glass and walking over to a table to fill it up with more bourbon. "Why so interested, Caroline?"

Caroline rolls her eyes. "Just tell me. Got any big plans for today?"

Klaus holds up his glass like a toast to her before downing it. Once he swallows, he says, "You're looking at it."

Caroline knew that she had him at that moment. She just needed to add the cherry on top. She needed to really get her hooks into him if she was going to get what she wanted. "Good, since you're not busy..." she licks her lips as Klaus lays down his glass and turns pretty blue eyes toward her, waiting for her to continue. "How about we go on a date tonight?"

Klaus blinks once slowly, like he wasn't sure he heard her right, then when her words process, he blinks rapidly like his brain was short-circuiting. The stoic, somewhat bitter look on his face melts away to honest surprise and intrigue. Red lips part, revealing he has drunk blood recently, as he stares at her, trying to understand what she said.

He taps the tips of his fingers on the hardwood table. "You want to go on a date with me?" He crosses his arms over his own chest, walking closer to her with the corners of his lips pressing tight and his lips pursing a bit. "Are you feeling well, love?"

"I'm fine, thank you very much," Caroline says, rolling her eyes again. "I just... can't stay in this house another second. It's been five days since we got the furniture in and while it was fun organizing and reorganizing all the rooms as well as everything in them multiple times, it's not fun anymore. I have nothing to do here, Klaus, I'm losing my mind. I have to get out of here. This place is a revolving door with all of you except for me. And, well, Hayley, but that's a different story. I can't be here anymore."

Klaus nods very slowly. "Ah, I understand now. You plan to use me to get what you want. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I see."

"Yeah," Caroline says playfully, seeing the grin working its way across his face. At least he isn't mad, she's happy about that. "I was thinking we could pretend to be back in Mystic Falls, where I need something from you so I shameless flirt and play hard to get and you pretend you don't know that I'm using you for my own gain."

Klaus offers her a closed-lipped smile, obviously amused. Whatever was bugging him before isn't anymore. He folds his hands behind his back, stepping closer to Caroline. "And what sort of date do you have in mind, love?"

Caroline smiles sheepishly at him. "To be honest, I didn't think I would make it this far. So I don't really have anything planned. I just need to get out of this house and away from these walls. I am at your mercy, Klaus Mikaelson, just please get me the heck out of here. I'll beg if I have to." Klaus grins wolfishly at her, honestly enjoying this torture. "Come on, Klaus. Please?"

He looks up at the ceiling for a moment, much more amused than Caroline thinks is necessary, before lowering his eyes back to her. "Caroline?"

"Klaus?"

"Would you like a night on the town?"

Caroline lets out a sigh of relief. "Yes, thank god. I was afraid I was going to have to spend another day in here cursing your name."

Klaus laughs. "Cursing my name, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't catch fire. I came up with some good ones."

"You'll have to let me hear them some time," Klaus says, still amused.

Caroline rolls her eyes. "Trust me, knowing both our personalities, you'll hear them soon enough."

Klaus laughs, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. "I have to say, though. You didn't last nearly as long as I thought you would."

Caroline snorts derisively, eyes hurting from the number of times she's rolled them in the last couple of minutes. "Don't even act coy, Klaus, you knew I was a neurotic, task-oriented drama queen when you knocked me up." Klaus gives her a contemplative, high-browed look, pursing his lips.

"I suppose you have a point," Klaus admits, which somehow doesn't make Caroline necessarily feel better, but she was the one that decided to use that against him, so she can't be mad if he agrees with her.

"Anyway," Caroline says dryly, shooting Klaus an annoyed look, which he smiles back at her for, "and it's perfect because Bonnie called to tell me that she finished whatever it was she was working on with Stefan these last few days I was on lockdown."

"Oh?" Klaus says, mildly interested. "And what has our illustrious witch been up to, pre tell?"

"She's been kidnapping Stefan every day so he can drive her out of New Orleans so that she can practice magic until we know for sure if she can safely perform it without alerting Marcel's witch of her presence. I'm not sure what it is, other than it's for me, and she didn't really want me leaving the house until I had it. And since she's done, I'm free," Caroline says, grinning wildly. She was so ready to get out of the house for a few hours. Being trapped in this house with nothing to do is literally Caroline's greatest nightmare.

"Well, now I'm interested," Klaus admits, looking up over her head.

"I want to go dancing," Caroline blurts out, drawing Klaus's eyes back down at her. His eyebrows quirk in curiosity.

"Dancing?" He echoes.

"And singing," Caroline says. "Oh, and maybe a bit of site seeing. Bonnie and I sort of looked around a bit when we were out, but not much. And I love to sing, even if it's along with a D.J or a radio, and well, I want to go dancing while I can. Seeing as soon I'm going to be the size of a house, I want to be able to dance before I can't anymore."

"Are you sure that's not something you want to do with Bonnie?" Klaus asks. There is no judgment in his voice and he doesn't appear as though he doesn't want to go, it's just an honest question.

"Yes," Caroline admits. She'd probably have more fun doing something like that with Bonnie, but she knows that her friend is focusing on everything magic-wise and when she's in the zone like that she can't be interrupted. And plus, all this time organizing has given her a chance to really think about their future and the future of their baby.

"To be honest, Klaus, I want... to try," Caroline admits again, lowering her voice. "I don't know if you and I can date or be together or anything like that, but I'm too tired to ignore whatever it is between us. I want to start as friends. I know we skipped that when we conceived Jelly Bean, but because of our history, I never really gave us the chance to even try to be something more than enemies and sometimes allies but mostly acquaintances."

Klaus stares down into her eyes, red lips parting slightly as he absorbs the impact of her words. He licks his lips, eyebrows pulling together before asking, quietly, "You want to give us a shot?"

"I think so," Caroline says softly. "At least, I want Jelly Bean to have seen that we tried. That mommy and daddy aren't just two boats crossing in the night." Klaus gives her a look at that, but Caroline waves it away. "If it doesn't work out between us, at least Jelly Bean will know that we tried to see how far it could go. At least we will both know that we tried. Jelly Bean will know that even when you try your best and it doesn't work out that it's still okay. I think that's important."

"For our baby, we'll try," Klaus agrees, smiling softly. "Is it safe to assume that tonight is the trial run?"

"Make it or break it time," Caroline says in jest. It was so weird to talk about this, but Caroline was never really one for tact anyway. With her parents, the marriage didn't work out, but at least they tried. They made it work for many years together and then made it work when they split apart. She wants to be able to tell her son or daughter that at least she did try to make it work with their daddy.

And besides, she'd be lying if she said that there wasn't something between them. There has always been a subtle attraction between them... er, well, subtle on her part. Klaus has been anything but subtle in his interest in her but she knew she was starting to feel something. And it wasn't just about the night they slept together either. The night they slept together just proved to her that there was something already there to begin with.

"So..." Klaus says slowly. "Jelly Bean?"

"Our baby," Caroline says, touching her stomach.

"I got that, Caroline, I'm just curious about the name. Why Jelly Bean?" Klaus asks, smiling charmingly.

Caroline shrugs. "Well, at first I called it Baby. Then Spawn. Then Peanut and now Jelly Bean. And I actually really like the last one. Cute, isn't it? Our little Jelly Bean."

Klaus smiles softly, lacing his fingers together on his stomach. "Yes..." he says slowly. "Cute."

Caroline crosses her arms over her chest, feeling a chill from the brand new air conditioning Klaus had put in after the first night of Caroline, Hayley and Bonnie all bitching about how hot it was while they were trying to sleep.

"So why are you in a bad mood?" Caroline asks.

Klaus gives her a look. "I'm not in a bad mood."

"You were when I came down here. What's wrong?"

Klaus lets out a sigh, turning around and walking into the kitchen. Caroline blinks a few times before following after him until he comes to the fridge, opening it up and leaning down to open a drawer filled with blood packs for Caroline and Stefan who don't drink from the vein as Klaus and Elijah do. He pulls one out, opening it up and turning to Caroline, holding it out for her.

Caroline glances over at the stove to see it's about one-thirty in the afternoon. Like clockwork. Every day, Klaus either calls to tell her or gets it for her himself at around one-thirty. Caroline knows she's not drinking enough blood, limiting to one blood bag a day, because she's afraid of what the blood is doing to their very human baby, but Klaus is insistent.

Normally, Caroline would be annoyed at being micromanaged like that, but this was different. She's always been reluctant. She just doesn't want anything to hurt her baby.

Caroline reaches out and takes it from him. "You'll listen to make sure the baby is alright?" Caroline asks softly.

"Blood is good for you," Klaus says for the hundredth time. "It's not going to hurt our baby." Caroline stares down at the blood and Klaus sighs. "I will listen and it'll be fine."

"Promise you'll listen?" Caroline asks, feeling the veins in her eyes pulsate. She's not drinking enough blood, she knows, but this is as much as she can bear without knowing for certain that it wasn't hurting her baby. She can feel her fangs threatening to press into her cheeks as the thought of blood makes her hungrier.

"Caroline," Klaus says slowly, stepping closer, placing his hand over her own, lifting it up so that it pushes the blood closer to her lips, "drink. I could listen to our baby's heart forever. Drink up, love. I'll listen."

So Caroline does. She drinks slowly, savoring the taste of blood on her tongue. Her eyes were closed but thankfully she didn't moan like she wanted to. That would have been terrible. She opens her eyes to see Klaus staring down at her with the softest expression, focusing on her stomach. She knew he wasn't paying attention to her when she stopped drinking to stare at him. His head is tilted slightly so that his right ear is pointed more toward her, doing just as she asked, listening to their baby's beating heart.

Caroline is envious, wishing that she could hear it, but when she tries to focus, all she can hear is her own heart beating. She finishes up her blood bag before asking, softly, "How is it? Baby's heartbeat?"

"Strong," Klaus says, pulling his eyes up to the blood bag to see that it's empty. He holds his hands out for the bag, which she passes over to him for him to dispose of.

While he's doing that, Caroline asks, "So what happened? Why were you upset earlier?"

"I finally spoke to Marcellus. Briefly." Klaus and Caroline stare at one another. "Don't look at me like that. I didn't do anything. Luckily, he was just as surprised to see me as I was to learn that he was alive." Klaus walks over to one of the counters, leaning back against it with his hands behind him and out to the sides. "There was a bit of posturing, but we ended on a... curious note."

"How so?"

Klaus presses his lips together for a moment, lowering his head to let it hand with his chin to his chest for a moment. "I used to run this city before Mikael. I built this city alongside my siblings. Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol..."

Caroline feels her heart sink, knowing that he must still be in pain. Caroline doesn't blame him at all. Caroline knew the pain of losing her family. Losing her dad was so unbelievably painful, just thinking about it now chokes her up. For a moment, a painful, seemingly unending moment, Caroline thought she was going to hate Ric forever. It wasn't really him that did it, but his face was the one being worn that made it happen. And then they learned the truth about what was going on with him, he was made to turn bad, and then they killed him. Or he sacrificed himself. Whatever.

And then she stopped thinking about how Ric killed her dad. It became about how she also lost him. Ric and her dad. She knew she couldn't blame him for what his body did while his mind had no control. Waking Ric, her friend Ric, would never have done that to her dad and she knows that. Still, it's hard sometimes knowing that he's gone.

Even thinking about it now... now that Caroline is pregnant... knowing that her father won't be there for the birth of her baby is hard. Now her baby is only going to have one grandparent. One uncle. One aunt - that's if Rebekah can muster up any care for this baby, which according to Elijah, hasn't happened yet, but he's convinced that it will. Rebekah will come around when the time is right. Klaus, as usual, is both hypocritical and dismissive to his sister, both in her whereabouts and her feelings. But Caroline knows that he's upset that she isn't here. Elijah is throwing in one-hundred and ten percent.

Caroline thinks it hurts him knowing that Rebekah isn't offering anything. But she kind of blames him for that. That's his sister that he's basically tortured, that's her feelings he's disregarded, so it's his fault that she doesn't even want to entertain the idea of a magical, miracle baby for even a moment. But she's keeping in touch, calling Elijah frequently, so that's got to mean something.

"To lose it all, only to find out that it was rebuilt by Marcel... the boy I raised because his father was a repugnant waste of existence..." Klaus shakes his head in disbelief.

Caroline tilts her head to the side a bit in confusion. "Wait, I don't understand." He lifts his head, drawing his eyes up to her own, eyebrow quirking. "Are you angry that it was rebuilt by the boy you raised, or that it was rebuilt at all? Because they mean two very different things." His lips part, thinking about her words. "Klaus, I don't think you're mad about what you think you're mad about."

Klaus glares at her and she knows why. He hates being told what to do and hates being told what he's feeling. Honestly, Caroline is the same, but she feels like someone has to say it, at least even if he gets mad at her, he probably won't cancel their night out. He'll fume for a few hours and then play it off like he's not mad.

"He stole New Orleans from me," Klaus growls, forehead scrunched together in anger.

"Klaus," Caroline says delicately, walking over to stand about a foot in front of him, "Mikael chased you guys out of here over a hundred years ago. You guys were the ones to tell me that. You can't blame him for rebuilding the city you love, because maybe he loved it too. Can't you be proud instead? Proud that in every small, beautiful way, those around you are still undoing Mikael's handiwork. Mikael burned it down, the city you loved so that the boy you raised could use hoodoo voodoo magic to resurrect it from the dead."

Klaus's anger lightens up and she's proud to see that he's actually listening to her. She thought for sure that he would hold onto his anger at least for a little bit longer. She's glad he's not though. He's so much more bearable when he's being calm and rational.

Caroline laces her fingers together on her stomach. "You should be proud of the fact that the four of you helped build a city with a strong enough foundation that even when it literally burned to the ground, the capable young man you raised was able to bring it back up once more." Caroline hesitates for a moment before reaching out to touch Klaus's arm.

"You make it all sound so easy," Klaus says, pulling his hand away from the counter to grab onto her hand and hold it loosely, giving her the chance to pull away if she wanted to. She doesn't feel threatened yet, so she lets him hold on. He is offering to take her out tonight. The least she can do is let him hold her hand. Plus, she doesn't hate it. His big and warm, wrapping around her own. She can feel calluses across his palm and fingertips and finds comfort in it. The primal part of her brain tells her a healthy, strong man has calluses as a hard worker.

"Instead of being angry, look at it as an accomplishment. You did well on both, that if you have to be vain about it, take their survival as a compliment." Caroline presses her lips together for a moment before saying, "but if you do that, you have to acknowledge the part Marcel played in it too. This place looks great. He did a really good job. And if you want to rebuild a relationship with him, if I were you, I would start by giving him that."

Klaus licks his lips, looking down at their hands. He looks conflicted, but at least he's considering what she's said. That, at least, is something to be thankful for. The door opens behind her, so Caroline twists around to see as Bonnie and Stefan walk in and Klaus lets go of her hand. She had to physically stop herself from turning around to look at him, ask him why he did that. She has a suspicious feeling as to the why. And it makes her feel sad. She knows he did it for her because she's still cruising around on uncertainty.

"Hey!" Caroline says, waving at the bright smile that Bonnie sends her way.

"We've arrived, with gifts," Stefan says, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall with his shoulder as Bonnie walks up to Caroline.

"Okay," she says, "it's been a few days, but I think I figured out how to do it. Here, give me your daylight ring, Caroline." She holds her hand out expectantly with an excited smile on her face.

Caroline steps back between the corner of the counter and Klaus to avoid the sunlight from the window behind him, making a mental note to get curtains the next chance they get. She pulls off her ring, laying it down into the palm of her best friend's hand as the witch digs into her pocket and pulls out a very simple silver bracelet with a single, heart-shaped charm that almost looked like a locket.

"Hold out your hand for me." Caroline does, watching as Bonnie clasps it onto Caroline's left wrist. "Good, it fits. Now, let's see if it works." Caroline nods, slowly reaching her hand past Klaus and into the sun, feeling the heat on her fingers, but thankfully she didn't start burning up.

"You made me a daylight... bracelet?" Caroline asks, surprised.

Bonnie beams adorably, proud of herself. "When I was looking through the grimoires I got when I saw the spell to make it. It's harder to do and takes more magic, but it can be done. I figured that since you guys want to keep Caroline being a vampire a secret for as long as you can, that this will help do that. A daylight ring is a dead giveaway. A daylight bracelet is another story. But I also figured that since it dangles, it could fall off easier than a ring could. So I also spelled it that it can't come off unless you take it off."

"Your ingenuity will never cease to impress me, Bonnie Bennett," Klaus says, admiring the bracelet. He touches the small locket on the bracelet, sticking his nail between the crease to see if it will open, but it doesn't. "I'm assuming the lapis lazuli gemstone is hidden in here? And sealed closed, I see."

"Yep," Bonnie says, grinning crookedly. "It's okay to be impressed."

"I am impressed," Klaus says honestly, eyebrows raised high.

Caroline laughs, stepping close and hugging her best friend. "Well, thank you, Bonnie. You're always thinking ahead."

Bonnie squeezed her tightly before pulling back and reaching into her pocket to pull out a simple silver chain which she slides Caroline's ring onto before holding it out for Caroline to take. "Here, just in case something goes wrong. Extra precaution."

Caroline smiles at her best friend, hugging her one last time before clasping the necklace around her neck and hiding it beneath her shirt, praying the chains on both of her necklaces down twist around each other and strangle her during the night. Then again, if that's the way she's going to go, so be it.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Caroline asks, looking between her two friends.

"I'm going back to reading, now that that's done with," Bonnie says, nodding toward the bracelet. "I'm working on a plan, but it's still in its infantile stage so I'll let you know when I start deciding on things." With that, she grabs some yogurt from the fridge and a spoon before waving to them and heading upstairs to do what she said she would.

Stefan pushes away from the wall and walks into the kitchen, rubbing at the back of his neck. "As for me, I'm going back out into the bayou to look for the werewolves, but I'm bringing Hayley with me."

"Like hell you are," Klaus snaps right as the woman in question bounds down the stairs.

"Oh yes he is," she says, stopping next to Stefan. "He needs me out there."

"Stefan is perfectly capable of finding a bunch of wolves," Klaus snaps, pushing away from the counter to glare at Hayley. The werewolf girl shrinks back in fear, but then swallows thickly, steeling herself before clenching her jaw and leveling her eyes with his.

Stefan steps between them before it can break out into a fight. "Actually Klaus, I knew I was ill-equipped to deal with this right from the start, but the Bayou is a big place and if Elijah's intel is correct, that's a lot of ground to cover. Besides, wouldn't it be easier to find werewolves using... oh, I don't know? A werewolf. I'm sure I can convince her to help us."

Klaus glares at Stefan now, who unlike Hayley, doesn't flinch away, staring back with a cool expression on his face. "This is ridiculous," Klaus growls.

"Hayley?" Stefan asks, maintaining eye contact with Klaus.

"Stefan?" Hayley asks, also staring at Klaus, the two of them proving to be a mighty force when united.

"If I asked nicely, would you help me locate the werewolves in the Bayou?"

"Only if you add pretty please with sugar on top," Hayley deadpans, matching Stefan's own tone.

Stefan gives Klaus a high-browed look, lips pressed together tightly. "Oh, would you look at that? I'm capable of asking like that." Then his flippant attitude becomes serious. "I need her help. And it's her family. It's been a few days and she hasn't done anything that leads me to believe she can't be trusted. Come on, Klaus, if it'll make you feel better, I'll get one of those kiddie leashes that are like backpacks. Monkey or bear, your choice."

Hayley gets a look but says nothing. At this point, she'll agree to anything to get her out of this house. Caroline knows exactly how she feels. She agreed to a date with Klaus - or instigated a date with Klaus - tonight. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Klaus, let them go," Caroline says. "Besides, I think it's fair. She's keeping our secret, the least we can do is let her look for her own family."

Klaus clicks his tongue, angry once more at being ganged up on. "Fine, take the little wolf with you then, Stefan, but know that she is your responsibility," he snaps, before turning angry eyes toward Hayley, stepping closer and grabbing her arm to look into her eyes which she shrinks back from but can only get so far with her arm wrapped up in his hand. "You listen to me well, Hayley Marshal, under no circumstances at all, will you ever speak of Caroline or our baby. If I so much as hear a syllable leave your lifts, I will tear out your innards. Nothing will threaten my child, or it's mother, do you understand?"

Hayley nods, swallowing thickly. "I get it. I wouldn't ever do something to threaten the life of a child. A baby. I wouldn't. As I said, I know what it's like to be without a mother and father, and while I don't think you'll be winning any awards, I think Caroline will be a good mother."

Klaus scowls at her more while Caroline is both touched by the compliment, and admires the werewolf's backbone. Already able to tell this is going to be the start of a fight, Caroline grabs onto Klaus's arm, bids the two good luck and pulls him toward the front door, stopping only to grab Klaus's keys and heading out, yelling that she loved everyone before leaving. Faintly, she heard Bonnie yell back the same.

"Let's make this date an all-day thing," Caroline says, offering him an uncomfortable grimace of a smile. "I think you need to get out of the house before your head explodes."

"Can you believe the disrespect?" Klaus growls, accepting the keys she puts into his hand as she walks toward the passenger side of Kaus's car when he opens it up for her, waiting for her to climb in before shutting it behind her and walking around to the driver's side. "It's not like I don't have a good reason for my suspicions. How much do we know about Hayley? How could we trust her with the information of our baby is free to fall, willy nilly from her lips?"

"We can't really," Caroline admits. "But I choose to believe her. We've spent the last week attached at the hip, and despite the last time the two of us were together in Mystic Falls and she broke my neck and left me on a bathroom floor, but I choose to forgive. She had her reasons, and while I don't really think it had to go that way, it did. I can't change that. But that doesn't make her malicious. It doesn't make her evil."

"Our baby's protection is of the utmost importance," Klaus argues, driving down the road toward town. "Am I truly the bad guy for wanting to keep it safe? To keep my family safe?"

"No, Klaus," Caroline says softly. "It doesn't make you a bad guy. Protecting our baby is important, but I don't think that Hayley is our enemy." Klaus opens his mouth but Caroline's hand on his arm gives him pause. "I know, you don't trust easily, and maybe that's what's going to keep all of us safe. You need time. I get that. Just keep watching her. Keep protecting us. You aren't doing anything wrong. I might have phrased it a little nicer, but that's just me."

Klaus huffs, settling down a bit now that he's no longer in the middle of being cornered. Klaus taps his thumb against the steering wheel for a few moments thinking, then, softly, he says, "Thank you for saying it like that."

Caroline casts him a sideways glance, eyebrows pulling together slightly. "What do you mean? How did I phrase it?"

"You said 'protecting us' and 'keeping us safe'," Klaus says slowly. He huffs again, softly, shaking his head. "I never thought I would hear you say that in reference to me." He smiles faintly, tentatively.

"I'm sorry," Caroline says softly, giving his arm a little squeeze. "I haven't been very nice to you and I'm sorry about that. I don't want our son to grow up thinking people can just walk all over him if he loves them, and I don't want our daughter thinking she can be mean to those that love her simply because she can be. Because he might be an asshole, but at least he's nice enough not to be as big a bitch back to her as she is to him. It's not right."

Klaus closes his eyes for a moment before opening them again to watch the road. "You don't have to apologize to me, Caroline," Klaus says evenly. "It's not as if I'm undeserving of your words."

"Maybe not," Caroline agrees, "but I need to break the habit. It's not the same as when we first met. And our child, no matter how our relationship evolves, will never see us like that. Being disrespectful, being cruel to one another. No. I won't allow it. Our child won't grow up thinking it's allowed to be disrespectful to its partner. Jelly Bean isn't going to be an asshole."

Klaus smiles ruefully. "I don't know what that looks like..."

Pain stabs at Caroline's heart at how softly he spoke, realizing that it's probably the honest truth. And it hurts her. It hurts her in a way she's can't fully explain. She doesn't know how to make him feel better, but she knows that she feels better with contact. The touch of another always makes her feel better so she draws her hand down his arm to his hand, holding it tightly, relieved when his hand wraps around her own and she prays he finds some comfort in the action.

"Thankfully, we still have a few months to figure it out," Caroline says softly, rubbing her thumb on the back of his pointer finger. "And even if we don't survive as boyfriend and girlfriend, or whatever, the least that we can do is be cordial and kind to one another for the sake of our baby."

Klaus smiles lightly, bringing her hand up to kiss the back of it before resting it between them, not pulling his hand away from hers yet. "Why are you so certain we are going to fail? You and I can't be together forever?"

Caroline laughs, shaking her head. "Come on, Klaus. Don't you think this is crazy? You and I?" She looks over at the side of Klaus's head.

After a moment, Klaus looks over at her with a completely even expression. "No, Caroline, I don't. I already told you, but I'll tell you as many times as you need to hear it. I intend to be your last love and I'll wait however long I have to."


	10. The Sired

**Author's Note: Hello! I'm sorry about the wait! Thank you all so much for taking the time to reach out to me! I love hearing what you ahve to say! It's late, and I'm exhausted, so forgive the horrible chapter. Stay healthy out there! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

Caroline collapses into Klaus's arms, laughing hysterically as she wraps her arms around his neck. She's hot and sweating and her heart is pounding loudly in her chest and even though she's tired from dancing, Klaus's hands settle on her waist and sway back and forth with the music. Caroline presses close to him, resting her cheek against his, not minding his stubble scratching her. She wraps one arm around his shoulders while the other one rested on Klaus's forearm as they sway back and forth.

Klaus surprised her by taking her to a whole bunches of places throughout the day, showing her what he deemed to be the best places in New Orleans. They saw all the sights and ate a lot of food and Caroline listened to Klaus talk about the history of it. She watched him glow with pride as he fondly remembered places that somehow still stood, or recreated the picture of what once stood there for her. Caroline loved how his eyes shined talking about it, the smile that never quite left his face. His anger over Hayley and Stefan ganging up on him earlier seems to have passed, at least, to which Caroline is grateful.

And at the end of the night, he took her to a small club that wasn't like what she imagined a night club to be like, it had a bar on one side of the room and a stage with live bands to play on. It wasn't very big, and it was dark in there aside from strobe lights attached to the stage. Caroline runs her fingers through the soft curls at Klaus's hairline as they sway, happy that all the people around them are too preoccupied with each other to look at them.

She's never seen Klaus shy away from dancing and honestly, he's good at it and a part of Caroline has to wonder if dancing is rooted in his family's culture. Admittedly, she didn't know a lot about Vikings or their culture. But seeing as her child was raised with the culture and it's aunt and uncles are half Vikings, the least she could do is crack open a book about it. Just to know.

Caroline presses herself close to him and he accepts the additional weight without complaint. She feels him turn his face and for a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her cheek, but instead, he pressed his nose into her hair and breathed it in deeply. Her mind instantly bulked at the idea of him breathing in her sweat, as she isn't exactly fresh as a daisy anymore after running around in the hot sun all day and all this dancing has her working up quite the sweat. And the idea of him just breathing it in isn't favorable. But then she remembered something that Hayley said. That werewolves leave their scent behind on people, especially those that they leave a lot of lingering touches on, or have more intimate touches with - like sex.

Now that Caroline thinks about it, she's sweating, so is he, and they are pressed against one another. So now she's not sure if he's breathing in her scent or his own, and whichever one he was doing, she has to wonder if he even realized he was doing it. Either way, she felt her skin prickle, and when she turns her eyes to his, in the darkness of the club, his eyes glitter with the strobe lights. She never noticed it before, probably because she's never just stared into Klaus's eyes, but looking into his eyes, they are soft and kind.

Caroline smiles softly, her heart swelling a bit when the corners of his lips turn up. And once more, Caroline feels bad for how she treated him. Sure, he mostly deserved it, but not always and not all of it.

Her legs are starting to ache and she's exhausted, looking into Klaus's eyes she knows the answer to her question as she's asking it, "We have to go back now, don't we?"

Klaus presses his forehead against her own, squeezing her waist reassuringly before saying, softly, "I hope you had a good time out tonight, Caroline."

Caroline nods, smiling a little bit more, relieved that she means it. She leans close as another loud song starts to play by the band on stage, a cover to a song that she's heard before. "With how stressful everything has been these last few... months, I'm glad we got this time," Caroline admits. "Time to just let our hair down and forget about all the horrible, ichy stuff going on, even if only for a moment."

Klaus nods slowly, staring down into her eyes for a moment before squeezing her waist again saying, "One more song, don't you think?"

Caroline huffs a bit, closes her eyes, and just lets herself focus on the swaying of their bodies. Klaus is good at leading them, even if they are slightly offbeat from the rest of the floor, she just relishes in the feeling. Klaus is able to make her feel better than she has in a long time. And she's brought back to that night - the night of the Mikaelson Gala. The heat and passion between them, how Klaus was telling her the truth. She was the one that made the first move, and despite her being so dismissive of him, she knew that she was starting to be unable to ignore the feelings that she has for him.

They have good chemistry.

That one more song turned into three more songs until Caroline's heart has completely slowed and she's basically falling asleep in his arms. Once the set ends and the band explains that there was going to be a break and the two take that time to slip out of the relatively busy club and head out for the night. As much fun as the day has been - and it has been fun - she's so tired, she's ready to just collapse onto the floor.

Klaus takes her hand and leads her through the busy streets and to his car. Like a gentleman, he holds open the door for her and she barely has the energy to buckle herself in before he's driving down the road.

"Klaus," Caroline says softly in the otherwise quiet car, "your baby is draining the life from me."

She opens her eyes and looks down at the red necklace feeding her energy into her baby. Her words don't match her tone. Her voice is soft and sweet, and she touches her stomach lovingly. Klaus smiles softly, casting her a short, sideways look.

"I'm sorry, love," he says, and she believes him.

"Can you do something for me?" Caroline asks softly.

Klaus nods. "Anything."

"Can you listen to it? Our baby's heartbeat? Without killing us in a car crash of epic levels?" Caroline asks, letting out a little laugh. "I'm jealous. I wish that I could hear it too. I never thought I would ever get annoyed at the sound of my own heartbeat before."

Klaus spares her a look before turning his eyes to the road and adapting this faraway look on his face and she knows that he's split his attention between listening to their baby's heart and watching the road to ensure they don't crash. Caroline leans against the window, staring at the side of Klaus's face as he focuses, that soft expression that she can never get enough of across his features.

"Is it strong?" Caroline asks after a few minutes of silence. "Is it beautiful?"

"Yes, and yes," Klaus says after a few breaths of silence. He looks over at her. "What are you hoping for?"

Caroline tilts her head a bit, forcing herself to sit up and keep herself awake. "What do you mean? Genderwise?"

Klaus nods. "Any preference? Boy or girl?"

Caroline shakes her head, running her hand over her flat stomach, then running her fingers over the red jewel resting over her belly. "I don't mind either way. Boy or girl. There is something alluring about the idea of a mama's boy but the fashionista at heart wants a little girl that I can do her clothes and hair and make-up."

Klaus smiles faintly at that idea. "I don't much mind myself, one way or the other."

They lapse into silence as Klaus drives them back toward their current residence. Maybe it's because of the necklace, or because this is the first time in a while that she's spent the whole day running around sightseeing and dancing and eating a lot of great food, but before she knew it, she was asleep. She had a bad habit of sleeping in the car during long rides. As a kid, whenever they went on trips, she would sleep almost the whole way there in the car because she found it so peaceful. She had a cousin that was carsick all the time, but not Caroline. She could sleep so easily. So it doesn't really surprise her that she fell asleep.

What surprised her, is when she woke up they weren't back at the house yet. The car was on and there was heat blowing from the vents, making it nice and comfortable for her. But aside from her, the car was empty.

She rubs the sleepiness from her eyes and looks out the front windshield to see Klaus standing in front of the car with his arms crossed over his chest with a man in front of him. Both of them are bathed in the beam of the car's headlights. Caroline rubs at her eyes a bit, trying to make out the other man. He's black, shaved head and taller than Klaus, and built stronger.

It takes a moment for Caroline's sleep-addled brain to realize who he was. The picture she has of him from a distance didn't do him justice. This had to be him. Marcel Gerard. The boy that Klaus raised to a man.

Caroline looks around the street to see that it's dark. Klaus must have been taking them a backway to the house. She knows that he's been renting a room at a fancy hotel to hide their real location, so this was just probably another one of his countermeasures to ensure no one followed him. And honestly, she's kind of impressed. She never would have thought of anything like that. But once more, he's proving to her just how serious he's taking this situation. He's protecting her and their baby. He's going above and beyond what she would have expected of him.

Looking at the posture of the two men in front of her again, she can tell that they aren't outwardly hostile, but they are defensive. Both of them. If Klaus raised this guy, no doubt he knows how paranoid and unpredictable Klaus can be, and because of how paranoid Klaus is, he's not quick to trust anyone, even someone he once knew. That and Caroline and their baby being so close probably aren't helping him feel any better.

She rubs the last of the sleep from her eyes before unbuckling her belt, opening the door and standing up. She keeps the door between herself and the two men, just in case something happens. Marcel doesn't look like he's ready to fight, but she doesn't know him well enough to be certain and she's not going to take any chances.

"Klaus?" Caroline calls out softly, looking between the two.

Klaus and Marcel look over at her.

"Is everything okay?" Caroline asks. The cool air grabs at her hair, whipping it into her eyes. She quickly tucks as much as she can behind her ears.

"Everything is fine," Klaus says, shifting closer to her.

"Is he bothering you, sir?" Caroline jokes, looking over at Marcel, hoping that if he was raised by Klaus, he might have picked up his backward sense of humor.

She's rewarded with a huff from Marcel and a crooked, familiar smile, very reminiscent of Klaus's. "A little bit. You mind getting him out of my hair?"

Caroline laughs at both Marcel's playful words and the look Klaus gives her. Seeing as Klaus hasn't completely put himself between the two of them, and Marcel looks friendly enough, Caroling walks around the car door, walking over to him and holds her hand out to him. "I'll try my best. I'm Caroline. Caroline Forbes."

He takes her hand easily, dark eyes kind as he shakes it slowly. Then, his dark eyes drop to her hand, then her other, before rising back up to her own without comment, making Caroline slightly nervous as she realized what he was looking for. She wasn't wearing a daylight ring on her hand - not that she would need to with it being dark out now - but she could feel it burning against her chest from the necklace it was looped through.

Klaus shifts a bit more, lowering his hands to his side, ready to intervene should something go wrong, but Caroline passed the first test. For now, he doesn't see her as a threat. Plus, even if he did know she was a vampire. He has at least a hundred years on her. Not that he would know that, but still. She's not sure how old exactly, he is, just that if New Orleans burned down a hundred years ago, and Marcel was turned by Klaus and was alive and a full-grown adult by then, he's got at least that many years on her.

"Marcel Gerard," Marcel says easily, turning friendly eyes up toward her own. There is a weariness there. Any friend of Klaus's should be monitored closely. Caroline knows that from first-hand experience. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Forbes."

"Caroline, please." Caroline pulls her hand back and crosses her arms over her chest and leans against the front of Klaus's car, making sure she's placed herself closer to the other blond, already seeing the anxiety working its way across his face and posture.

"Then call me Marcel, Caroline." He smiles, and Caroline is certain he's charmed many people with it. It's so wide and pretty and charming and disarming. It's just one of those things that Caroline automatically notices about people - their smiles. And Marcel Gerard definitely would be in the top three for greatest smiles Caroline has seen yet.

"Will do, Marcel," Caroline says sweetly, pulling herself from her thoughts. "So, are we in trouble? Did we do something wrong?"

Marcel tilts his head slightly, turning his body a bit to include her in the conversation. "Now why would you say that? Did you do something wrong?" The question is easy, smooth, but also slightly probing.

"Nothing of the sort, I assure you, Marcellus," Klaus says, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Marcel holds up his hands in mock defeat. "No need to get defensive, Klaus. I was just asking. This is my town and I've got to make sure everything is running smoothly." Klaus twitches at the way he said that and Caroline is starting to get why he's having a hard time giving Marcel the credit that he deserves for his good work on New Orleans. She gets that Marcel is staking his claim for his work, but he's also making it hard for Klaus's ego to get past the blatant... um... rubbing it in, she supposes.

She's not sure anyone is really in the wrong here.

"No one's getting defensive," Caroline mediates quickly, seeing Klaus get this annoyed look on his face. She has to think quickly. "I was just worried that you and Klaus were arguing and wanted to make sure we hadn't done anything wrong."

Marcel shakes his head, looking between Caroline and Klaus. "Nope. Not as far as I know, at least. I just haven't seen my sire in a long time, and our last chat was very brief so I wanted to check in on him."

"That was sweet of you," Caroline comments. She notes the way he eyes her. She heard him say 'sire'. And she knows that he's watching her reaction, not able to get a good read on what she is. So she doesn't react beyond those words and leaves him to wonder. Either she's a human and doesn't catch the meaning of his words, or she's supernatural and not at all surprised by them.

"Too sweet," Klaus says, not appreciating the way the other man was staring at Caroling. "Although, I suggest that you keep your lackies away from me. I don't much fancy being watched as it is. I get a little antsy. I've been known to rip the spines out of strange people following me around."

Caroline and Marcel just stare at each other. Caroline's sweet smile slowly flattens out as she starts to register what she just heard. She blinks a few times as Marcel adopts this look like he wasn't sure why he expected anything different to spring from Klaus's lips. Caroline just couldn't believe it. He said the words so simply, so easily, like he was talking about the weather, that she hadn't realized what he said until she actually thought about it.

She throws him a half-hearted glare, annoyed by his words, but also keenly aware of them. Does that mean someone has been following them all night? Caroline had absolutely no idea. She didn't know, which just goes to show that Klaus really was both paying way more attention than she was, and he was doing everything he could to keep them safe. Honestly, she could have worse men as the father of her baby, but she's not sure how much better she could do in that regard.

She can understand why Marcel would have people watching them. Or specifically Klaus, but it definitely worries her that there is. Thankfully, Klaus is willing to be his loveable self and hopefully, that will take care of itself. That or Caroline's going to be seeing some spines in the near future. Breaking necks is one thing, but organs and bones that should be inside the body coming out? No thanks.

Marcel stares back at Klaus, that friendly smile sharpening a bit. "I just got to make sure that things are running smoothly in my town, Klaus. No need to get upset."

Klaus steps forward, reaching out to grab Caroline's arm. His smile is frosty back at the boy he raised and it hurts Caroline's heart to see it. "I assure you, Marcel, I am not upset. You'll know when I'm upset. From one friend to another, I'd advise that you keep your underlings out of my business."

Then, without waiting for a reply, he directs Caroline back toward the passenger's side of the car and helps her in, closing the door firmly behind her before walking around to the driver's side. As he passes Marcel, he says, loftily, "Have a good night," like he hadn't just threatened the other man and climbs into the car and switches gears before driving around the stationary man. Caroline waves a bit at the other man who tips his head a bit, dark eyes narrow as they go.

He steps closer, making Klaus stop and Caroline rolls down the window so that she can hear him. "Come out tomorrow, Caroline," Marcel says easily, looking at Klaus for a moment before turning his eyes back to her. "There's this really good gumbo served at a bar called Rousseau's. How about lunch?"

Caroline's mouth dries up in surprise as her brain tries to figure out how to say words. "Uh... really?"

"Know the place?" Marcel asks easily and Caroline honestly has no idea what he's trying to get from asking her to lunch.

"I do," Caroline admits. "Is it okay if Klaus comes? He's my escort around town. I'm afraid I'd be lost without him." Sure, she's pretty sure by now that she would be able to sort of find her way there eventually. But she would feel better - and knows that he wouldn't let her go alone even if she wanted to - if he was was there.

Marcel flashes her that award-winning smile that she's sure it melts the hearts of almost all women that cross his path. But not her, she just thinks it's an absolutely beautiful smile. "Sure," he says easily but Caroline doesn't know him well enough to know if he's bothered by her wanting Klaus there or not. She's hoping not. "Tomorrow, noon. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," Caroline says, offering a curt nod. "Have a good night, Marcel."

"Goodnight, Caroline," Marcel says smoothly, dark eyes peering into the car at his sire. "Klaus."

"Marcel." And with that, Klaus rolls up her window for her and drives off. Caroline offers a little parting wave as Marcel takes a few steps back. Caroline spares Klaus a glance that he ignores before looking into the rearview mirror to see that Marcel is gone.

Once they are out onto the street again, Caroline watches in silences as Klaus drives through main streets and then back roads. She's not sure if she's just not sure how to get back to the house from where they are and it just seems like they're going in circles, or if they really were because Klaus was shaking off someone who was following them, she's not sure, but surely he knows what he's doing, so she just keeps her mouth shut and lets them settle into the comfortable silence.

After a few minutes, Caroline asks, softly, "Has someone been following us today?"

Klaus nods. "Two vampires. Day-walkers. I noticed them once we got to the coffee shop. They've been following us ever since."

Caroline takes a moment to digest that information. She really, truly hadn't noticed. She tries to think back through the day since the coffee shop. If there were two people that she kept seeing over and over again, but no one comes to mind. She honestly wasn't keeping her eyes open for anyone, so that's probably why she didn't notice, but even if she had been paying attention... well, she's not sure she could have gone the whole day knowing that someone was following her.

And Klaus never let on that he was tracking someone - two someones - all day. It appeared as though he had given her his full, undivided attention the whole day. She's not mad, just surprised. She was fortunate to have Klaus with her. She's not sure that Marcel would have ordered anything happen to her, but she knows how witches are being treated in the Quarter and while she's not a witch herself, she is probably carrying one inside of herself. Hopefully, since no one has kicked down their door looking for Bonnie, they aren't tracking the witches, just the magic, but knowing Caroline's luck someone would have found out and she could have been in some trouble.

They sit in silence for a few more minutes as Caroline tries hard to recall anyone that she noticed as odd or caught her attention for any reason, but she honestly couldn't think of anyone. She would shudder to think of what Damon would say if he knew. Probably that she was always getting herself into trouble - second only to Elena - because she was never paying attention or some not-funny joke about her being an oblivious blond. Either way, just thinking about him annoys Caroline. She shoves thoughts of Damon away and turns to look at the side of Klaus's face.

"Klaus?"

"Yes, love?"

"Not that it wasn't completely obvious or anything, but I had no idea anyone was following us today," she admits, ashamed for not being more observant. It wasn't just her life that was on the line anymore. It was the life of her baby too. She has to start paying closer attention. When someone is unwelcomingly eyeing Elena or Bonnie, Caroline can see that from a mile away. She's much more oblivious when it comes to herself. Although the answer to that might be obvious; they may have been watching Klaus, not Caroline. But still, the fact remains the same. She'll just have to be more careful in the future.

Klaus's blue eyes scan ahead of them as they pull onto the road that will eventually bring them back to the house. He blinks slowly, taking in her admittance for a moment before saying, quietly and without pulling his eyes off the road, "I know. And I didn't want you to notice. You were having fun and enjoying a day out. I didn't want them to interfere with my one chance."

Caroline stares at the side of his head, perplexed for a second by his words before they click. "Klaus, I was kidding earlier when I said this was your one and only shot."

"I know," Klaus says, and a part of her doesn't believe him because no one could know with her. Not when it comes to Klaus. "But you were having fun. I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time. And for the first time, it was for me. It wasn't for Elena, or your friends, or for Tyler. It was for me. I was making you happy. I didn't want them to ruin it."

Caroline stares at him, as the moonlight bathes half of his face in light and the other half in the dark as he turns to look at her. They stare into each other's eyes for a long moment and Caroline feels it again, twisting in her gut and not in a bad way. She can feel that chemistry, that connection again. And Caroline can't get over it. How it feels like he really does care about her. Maybe it was for the baby's sake, maybe not, she's not sure. But she does know that Klaus is beyond what she originally thought of him.

He may not have been the monster in her story, as far as she's concerned, but she never expected him to be more than an unlikely ally. She had fun today, truly, and she's happy that he'll be with her tomorrow too. She feels safe knowing that he's there. And she's felt that way long before the baby. Jelly Bean might be the linchpin that will keep them together forever, but it was their own feelings for one another that made her feel safe. Regardless of how many times she betrayed him, or used him, or hurt his feelings when she needed him, he was always there for her. No matter what.

And she is grateful.

"Thank you for taking me out today," Caroline says softly. "I really did have a lot of fun, so I appreciate it."

"I'm glad," Klaus says easily, turning his eyes back to the road. He sighs after a moment, a troubled look crossing his face. "I'm going to have to do something about Marcel."

"What?" Caroline asks, surprised. "You mean like kill him?" Klaus doesn't respond, his expression guarded. "No, Klaus, there isn't a need for that."

"There is," Klaus insists. "He knows about you. If he starts digging, he may come to learn that you're pregnant and that you're a vampire. I can't allow that to happen. Not yet. Not with the witches hovering over us like a black cloud."

Caroline's eyebrows pull together. "I don't know about you, but I'm not completely certain that the witches are in the right here. I mean, sure, they should be allowed to practice their magic, sure, but they are threatening us. They are using our unborn baby to put you at odds with the boy you raised."

Klaus offers her a quick sideways glance as they pull into the driveway and he parks the car. "What are you trying to say, Caroline?"

"I don't know," Caroline admits, just saying things as they come into her head. "But before we make any crazy decisions, let's go out tomorrow. To lunch with Marcel. Who knows, maybe if it will be inevitable that Marcel learns about me, maybe we can be the ones to tell him."

Klaus gives her an incredulous look. "You want to tell him? You just met him today, Caroline, and he's not the boy I raised. The boy I raised should have died in the burning of New Orleans a hundred years ago. I don't know this person. I don't know this Marcel. And you just want to tell him about you? About our baby?"

Caroline shakes her head. "Not entirely. Maybe just about me being pregnant. Not about the baby's real father - at least not that it belongs to you. Not yet, at least. But just that you and I are a pair. Where I go, you need to go, and if I have to stay in New Orleans, you're staying with me. At least it gives him a believable, legit reason for you to be here. Even if we say that you were friends with the father or... or knew him or... I don't know. We could tell him anything, and then later, if he proves to be trustworthy, we can tell him the truth. I don't know, Klaus. He knows about me, and eventually, he'll know about the baby. I think, if we can, we should try and use this to our advantage. Get ahead of this before it runs us down."

Klaus doesn't look convinced, but he's not downright disagreeing, so that's got to mean something. He'll have to think about it, she knows. Maybe even talk to Elijah, his confidant. Either way, they have to do something. And Caroline's not sure killing Marcel is the only way to make it through this. Especially when it's obvious to her how important Marcel is to Klaus, despite his words.

"And besides," Caroline says slowly, "Marcel is like your son, right?" Klaus shrugs his shoulders noncommittedly, which she doesn't believe for a second. Rolling her eyes, she says, "Well, in that case, he's kind of like their big brother. Jelly Bean's, I mean. Which to me means that there is another person who could love and cherish Jelly Bean."

Klaus still looks hesitant but she can see there is a part of him that wants to entertain the idea of the boy he loved helping to look after his child, but his paranoia is making it so hard. There is some much that they don't know about what's going on around them, and honestly, yes, a hundred years have passed since last they saw each other. Caroline understands that a hundred years is a long time and people change, but Caroline didn't get hte impression form him today that he was something that she couldn't trust. At least, eventually.

Perhaps tomorrow will change her perspective. For now, though, she'll leave him with her thoughts, and hopefully they can come up with a plan tomorrow.


	11. Is it Wrong?

**Author's Note: Sorry everyone for the long wait! I've had family here the last month and we've finally gotten a little reprieve before more family comes in the next few weeks, so I'm going to try and update as many stories as fast as I can to try and make up for my really long absence. So, I'm sorry about the wait! Thank you all for your support! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

Klaus walks Caroline to the staircase as they say their goodnights once more.

"Goodnight Klaus," she says softly walking up a few steps before turning around to look down at the ancient hybrid.

He folds his hands behind his back, smiling in that way that makes his cheekbones pop out. His eyes crinkle a bit with his smile as he stares at her appreciatively, making her feel beautiful somehow despite the fact that she's in jeans, a nice shirt, and covered in dried sweat that she's going to have to wash off. Yet she felt pretty when he looked at her like that.

"Goodnight Caroline," Klaus says sweetly, blue eyes sparkling as he stares at her.

Caroline nods a bit, turning away to head up the stairs before she stops and turns around once more. She hesitates for a second before looking over at Klaus again. She rubs the tips of her fingers together before saying, "Thank you for today, Klaus. I had a lot of fun."

Klaus raises his eyebrows a bit, blue eyes brightening up beautifully. "Enough fun to want to go and make a day of it tomorrow, should all go well in our meeting with Marcellus?"

"Only if it doesn't end in a bloodbath," Caroline jests, but a part of her is serious. Something tells her that the possible fun day that they could have would be ruined along with her clothes in the middle of a bloodbath. She knows she wouldn't be in the mood anymore after something like that. Luckily, even though she said it as a joke, Klaus seems to be able to read her facial expression to know that she's actually serious.

"Then I'll have to just be on my best behavior tomorrow, won't I?" Klaus asks, sending her that pretty smile once more.

Caroline rolls her eyes playfully. "Klaus Mikaelson? On his best behavior? I'll know it when I see it." She mimics the grin he sends her way. She turns away again and walks up a few more steps before stopping one last time, mentally warring with herself. It really was such a good day, and a great date and great dates end with a kiss. And honestly, she was already carrying his baby, one little kiss was nothing.

To be honest, she wasn't sure if he was interested in anything like that now. In her mind, she's never been the one. She's never been the first choice and a part of her woefully accepts that she'll die alone, but at the same time, a part of her does still thirst for that companionship, and while she knows Klaus is actually a decent person who was looking out for her and may actually still hold some affections for her, the fact that he didn't even try to kiss her today was really disillusioning the situation. Perhaps she really was reading too much into his actions.

Or she's just working herself up for nothing, which isn't unusual.

Before she can do anything besides chastize herself internally on what she should want and the fantasy in her mind of a nice date that was overall great that is supposed to end one way, she feels someone standing at her back.

"Caroline."

The pregnant blond turns around on the stair to see Klaus standing on the step right below the one that she's standing on. Klaus smiles at her, blue eyes locked onto her own, waiting for her to give permission. Caroline hears herself say, "Kiss me."

And before she can start to talk herself out of it, he does and Caroline is teleported back to the night of the Mikaelson Gala. Just like then, his kisses were soft and gentle. She is reminded again of just how gentle he is, how sweet that he's been when it comes to him. And needless to say, he's a very good kisser. His hands find her waist, pressing into them softly as she rests her arms around his shoulders.

It was soft, simple, sweet, and yet Caroline's chest swells like it was the most mind-blowing kiss in the world. And this was what got her in trouble the first time around. Kissing Klaus Mikaelson was like asking for something bad to happen. Whether it be mind-blowing sex that she had to pretend wasn't all that impressive as well as keep its existence secret from her friends, or getting pregnant as a result exposing both the lie of omission and probably having to own up to how good it really was.

Either way, this was a bad idea. And this werewolf bastard was smiling against her lips.

Caroline pulls away, opening her eyes, not knowing when she closed them, to glare at the man in front of her, still grinning at her. She scoffs, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "You ruin everything, I swear."

"A great date ends with a kiss, that's what you were thinking, wasn't it?" Klaus asks rhetorically. Of course, it was, because he can somehow read her mind.

Caroline scoffs again, staring down into his sparkling eyes, trying to think of something to say to try and release some of the hot air in his head. "Oh yeah? You think that you can just read my mind? Well, you can't because that wasn't what I was thinking at all, actually." Klaus presses his lips together, trying not to smile with his eyebrows raised high, nodding his head as he listens.

"Yes, yes."

"You can't, Klaus," Caroline reaffirms, squeezing his shoulders while trying not to think about his hands still resting on her hips.

Klaus nods again, blue eyes wide. "Yes, of course. Absolutely."

Caroline kind of liked that wide-open expression on Klaus's face, but there was no way she was going to tell him. "And you know what? I think that you and your smug face should just stop."

"I'm not smug," Klaus says, expression brightening up more at their banter, and Caroline can't help but feel a grin working its way across her face.

"Oh come on," Caroline laughs, shaking her head. "You are probably the smuggest person in the entire world that has ever been smug. You know, I bet you were the reason the word was even invented in the first place."

That one makes Klaus laugh. "No, I fear you are mistaking me with my dear brother Kol, love."

The words slam into Caroline's chest and she's reminded in the same moment as Klaus about the death of the other Mikaelson. She can see the mirth starting to slip from the face of the man in front of her and after the great day that they had, Caroline hated the idea of leaving it on that note. She really did have fun and despite her words, Klaus made sure this day was a good one, and after all the shit that had been going down around them, it was nice to have this day. She was very thankful to him.

Hating that pained look that started to flicker in those pretty blue eyes as his smile began to slip from his face, Caroline hugged him tightly. She pressed her hand into the back of his head so that his face was buried into her shoulder while her other arm was wrapped around his shoulders, hugging him tightly, knowing that she wouldn't be strong enough to hurt him before whispering into his ear, "I had a great day, Klaus. Thank you, and good night."

His arms circle her waist, squeezing tightly for a moment before letting her pull away.

Instead of playful, his expression is soft now as he says, "Sleep well, Caroline. We can talk about Marcel tomorrow morning."

For a moment there, Caroline forgot about that. But she nods in understanding. Yes, they definitely would have to talk about what to do. "Night, Klaus."

"Goodnight, Caroline," Klaus says for the hundredth time it feels like, before surprising her by laying his hand on her stomach, lowering his eyes and leaning in closer to say, softly, "And you too, Jelly Bean. Make sure your mother has good dreams."

Caroline flushes deeply, not having expected that. She places her hand over his for a moment before he pulls his hand away, smiles at her softly, which she returns before turning around and heading up the rest of the stairs toward her room. Caroline takes a quick shower and changes into her pajamas before falling into her bed, mind still racing about the day. The date, meeting Marcel, the kiss, Klaus talking to Jelly Bean.

Caroline gets herself comfortable under the covers before placing her hand over her stomach and rubbing slowly. They've talked about Jelly Bean a lot but Klaus hadn't spoken directly - as directly as he could considering the baby was still in her belly - to it before. Whenever Caroline talked to Jelly Bean, her voice would rise in pitch and cooing while Klaus's voice was so soft, so sweet.

The blond flushes, rolling onto her side to stare out the window, forcing the excitement away. It's only normal, right? At some point, people become crazy enough to talk to the woman's pregnant belly like the baby inside could actually understand them. Caroline always knew that was in her, but somehow Klaus felt like he was beyond things like that, but she supposed he wasn't.

Exhaustion wipes out the excitement and Caroline feels her eyes droop closed and drops off into slumber.

Caroline wakes up a bit later than she normally does, but is able to go through her morning routine seamlessly despite it. Throw up like crazy in the toilet, brush her teeth, wash her face, brush her hair and then change into a loose sleeveless top, seeing as it's going to get hot today, black leggings and boots before heading out of her room and down the stairs.

She can hear everyone talking in the dining room so she makes her way over there. She definitely had to of slept in longer than normal if Bonnie was already up and dressed for the day by the time Caroline got into the room.

"Morning," Hayley greets, being the first to see her as she enters the room.

"Good morning!" Caroline greets, smiling happily around the room.

Everyone else chimes in their good mornings and afterward Bonnie says, around her cup of coffee, "You're in a good mood, Caroline. A good night's sleep?"

Caroline shrugs, lowering herself between Stefan and Klaus. "Not really," she admits, "I'm still tired from yesterday, but I'm just in a really good mood today. Anything wrong with that?" She asks, suspicious.

Bonnie sips her coffee, eyebrows high. "Not at all. Just wondering."

Caroline rubs at the back of her neck, looking around the table as Hayley leans back in her seat, pulling a knee up to her chest. "So," Caroline says slowly, eyes landing on Klaus, "I assume you guys were talking about Marcel and what we are going to do today."

Klaus nods. "I was just getting to your wonderful idea about putting our baby out there for the world to see."

Caroline rolls her eyes. "That's not what I was trying to say." Knowing she was going to need the power of the mob to help her, she looks around the room, knowing that aside from her and Klaus, Elijah was probably the only other one to know about her idea. "I told Klaus yesterday that we should tell Marcel about me being pregnant but not say who the baby's father is."

"That'll be suspicious," Hayley points out. "I mean, you guys aren't old friends or anything. So just blurting out that your pregnant will probably be suspicious to him."

"True," Caroline agrees, "but I'm only saying if he asks why we are there. I think we should tell the truth about me being pregnant. At least part of it. Once again, no one needs to know that Klaus is the father. Not yet, at least. If it comes out, it comes out. But I think we should tell him part of the truth rather than try to keep up with a lie. Because I'm sorry. I can't live in this house for nine months straight. I will kill everyone responsible for me being pregnant starting with Klaus and working my way down to the person most minorly involved in sewing my dress the night of the Mikaelson Gala."

Klaus laughs, finding a lot of amusement in this but a small part of Caroline was serious.

"As funny as that is," Stefan says, also looking somewhat amused, "we all know that it isn't logical. We can't do nothing, that much is certain, and I don't think just killing Marcel is going to fix our problems. But I'm not sure about how much of the truth we should tell him."

"It's not saying too much," Caroline defends herself. "All it has to be is if he asked why I'm there, I'll tell him about being pregnant and that I needed to be here because of the necklace and Klaus has to stay with me because... because..." She waves her hands around, not sure what to say about why Klaus was there and couldn't leave. "I don't know," she admits, "that's why I need a bit of help."

Bonnie rubs at her forehead. "I don't understand why you have so much faith in him, Care. You don't even know this Marcel guy. I love that you're so sweet and always willing to try and see the best in people but he could be a wolf in sheep's clothing for all we know."

Caroline looks down at her hands, a pit forming in her stomach as she says softly, "Is it so wrong to hope that my baby's father raised a good man?"

Caroline can't look around the room even as she feels the weight of everyone's eyes on her, especially Klaus's that burns into the side of her head. Because it's true. She doesn't know this Marcel Gerard, and she doesn't just blindly trust him, but she doesn't want to believe he's a bad person, for no reason at all. She wants to believe that there is at least a chance that he's good. That Klaus did a good job with the first child - that they know of - that he raised, and he'll do a good job with his own flesh and blood too. Caroline understands why everyone is so hesitant but she doesn't want to just blindly accept him being their enemy without any proof.

"No," Bonnie says softly. "Look, Care, I'm sorry. I didn't think about it like that. No, it's not wrong to want that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Caroline says softly back, peaking through her long lashes over at her best friend past Stefan, who was staring down at his lap with a troubled look written across his face. "I know you didn't mean it in a bad way, and I don't think that we should just throw caution to the wind, but I just don't want him to be the enemy without any prompt. He's never done anything to us. The only reason we are even at odds with him right now is because of the witches and they aren't exactly our allies either."

"Caroline is right," Hayley says, resting her chin on her propped up knee, looking around the table. "I don't know if he's friend or foe, but we should still be careful either way. As for why Klaus is here, just tell the truth about that too."

Elijah offers her a sideways glance. "You think we should just tell Marcellus that Klaus is here because the woman he fancies, and their unborn child are being basically held hostage by the little necklace around Caroline's neck?"

Hayley meets Elijah's gaze with a level one. "No, Elijah. I'm saying, tell him what we already know is really keeping him here. If he asks, tell him that Klaus is here because Caroline is here. She's pregnant and due to poor biology, she can't leave New Orleans until her baby is born, and Klaus, being infatuated by her, is sticking around to keep her safe seeing as she is literally miles away from her hometown, eighteen and pregnant surrounded by strangers."

No one says anything for a long moment as Elijah and Hayley just stare at one another.

"She actually has a point," Stefan says slowly. "If Marcel thinks that Caroline is human, and Klaus is in love with her and won't just leave her, then I guess that's a plausible reason for staying, especially since it's not out of the realm of possibility because that's literally the reason he's here." Klaus shoots Stefan a look past Caroline, which he shrugs at. "Not to say that the baby doesn't play a role in that, but if my understanding of the conversation at the cemetery is correct, the reason you were convinced to stay in the first place is because of Caroline. Now, if I'm wrong, does it really matter? If he knows you as we know you, you're a slave to your own will."

"Very eloquently put, Stefan," Elijah says slowly, finally pulling his eyes from Hayley's. "And I am inclined to agree to an extent."

"Tell me this," Caroline asks, looking between Elijah and Klaus, "If you can agree with absolute certainty, then we can come up with something else entirely."

Klaus nods, slowly, a strange look on his face. "Go on, then."

"Was Marcel this terrible guy that would hurt a pregnant woman and her unborn baby that he's never met before until just recently just to get back at you?" Caroline asks Klaus, then looks over at Elijah. "Either of you?"

"No," Elijah says after a moment. "Marcellus wasn't..." He hesitates, trying to find the words. "He has always been exceptionally caring, especially toward children. I... do not believe he would hurt you or your unborn child, even if he did know that the child was Niklaus's."

Caroline feels a relief wash over her as she turns her eyes toward the father of her baby. "Klaus?" She leans in close, staring into his dark eyes trying to see past the trouble and indecision swimming there. "Do you agree with Elijah?"

Klaus presses his lips together tightly, staring back at her for a moment before admitting through clenched teeth, "Yes. I believe Elijah is right, but," he adds before the relief can fully work itself across Caroline's face, "I'm not sure we should just be going around just yet telling people about our baby. It has been a hundred years since I've seen Marcel, and he's no longer the boy I raised."

"But how do you know that?" Caroline asks, softly, seeing the pain in his eyes. "How are you so certain that after the two very short conversations that you've had with him that he isn't somehow still that same boy?"

"I don't know," Klaus admits through gritted teeth, staring Caroline down with intense blue eyes. "I just don't trust it. I don't want anything to happen to our baby. Elijah keeps calling it the hope of our family, and so what if it is? I refuse to allow the boy I raised destroy that."

Caroline feels her eyebrows pull together tightly, reaching for his hand, balled up on the table. She wraps her hand around his fist. "I know that you don't want that, and I don't either. We don't really have any other plans. If we go and you start to suspect that something is up then we can get out of there and come back here and plan for the more nuclear option if it comes to that. But only if you really think everything is going to blow up around us. I promise to follow your lead."

Klaus closes his eyes tightly, warring with himself for a moment longer before letting all the tension drop from his shoulders as he opens his eyes again to stare into her own with a hard look on his face. "You will follow my every move. If I say we leave, we do. You let me do most of the talking. I raised Marcel. I know his tricks, and he knows mine. We have to proceed with caution."

"So it's settled," Bonnie says begrudgingly, pushing her cup away from her as if it was the reason for her being upset. "While you guys are gone, we'll plan out the newly deemed 'Nuclear Option' should all of this start to blow up around us."

"If it does," Stefan reminds them but looks like he's expecting the worst alongside Bonnie. Caroline bitterly thanks everyone for their optimism, although she doesn't actually blame them.

"We should go early and scope out Rousseau's before Marcel gets there," Klaus says, standing up, pulling Caroline along with him. "I don't like that Rousseau's is the place that he picked," he mutters as they walk to the door.

"Why?" Caroline asks as he leads her out the door and to his car, opening the passenger door for her all while looking like he would rather tear his own skin off and throw himself down a salt mine.

Klaus gives her a sideways look. "He's oppressing the witches, dear Caroline, why would he want to go to a bar owned or at least occupied by one of the ringleaders of the faction in this city, just days after he brutally murdered her sister for all to see? Either he suspects that we are all working together, and I use that term loosely, or if there is another unknown reason for it. But I want to get there first to see for myself."

Honestly, Caroline hadn't thought about that either. She was just relieved that it was going to be somewhere she knew of and he was okay with Klaus being there. She hadn't thought about why he would have picked that place, to begin with. She's not ready to admit that she's wrong, just yet. But she is going to have to pay close attention to this meeting today and, yeah, let Klaus do most of the talking. He obviously is keeping his guard up far higher than she is.

That and he just has the evil mastermind mindset down pat. She has a lot to learn if she's going to be protecting her child from its father's copious amounts of enemies.

They ride in silence for a few minutes, Caroline fidgeting consistently like clockwork. She spares a few glances over at Klaus, but his eyes never leave the road and the frown never leaves his lips.

Finally, she builds up the courage to ask, softly, "Are you mad at me?"

"No," came his crisp reply.

Caroline stares at the side of his face as he wars with himself. He is obviously mad, but she's sure a part of him didn't mean to say it like that but his pride isn't going to let him apologize for his tone, which Caroline doesn't really mind.

"Someone should tell your face," she jokes lightly, knowing it was lame but hoping it would help alleviate some of the tension in the car.

Klaus shoots her a droll look, obviously not amused before sighing and turning his eyes back to the road. "I am mad," he admits, "but not at you. Not really. It angers me that goodness in you. How you are so willing to open your heart to people and as much as I loved it for its benefit for me, I am finally seeing it the way your friends did. I am worried about you."

Caroline scoffs, somewhat offended. "I find it hypocritical that you would be angry over a trait that you shamelessly capitalized on yourself."

"It is hypocritical," Klaus says in that way that makes Caroline feel like she's ten bot eighteen. If she could, she would reach over across the seat and punch him in the shoulder if she wasn't worried he might crash the car and kill their baby.

She glares at him, wanting to yell and scream but decides that she's already starting to fell herself getting really upset by all of this that if they keep talking about it, it's only going to upset her even more. So she crosses her arms over her chest and turns to stare out the windshield in silence, her good mood from earlier is completely gone now.

Klaus glances over at her, frowning. He must sense how upset she is. Which is good because she's not really hiding it. She knows it's a bit childish but she's the-eighteen-year old. If the thousand-year-old can be childish, so can she. Not that he's completely in the wrong or anything, but she is getting annoyed.

Klaus sighs, staring forward for a few minutes, trying to collect his thoughts. "I'm sorry," he finally says. "I know that this is stressful for you too, but I know Marcel, I know how he grew up. I know that he isn't a bad man. I know that he wouldn't hurt a child, let alone a baby. I know that he isn't as bad as I fear, but it's been a long time since I've seen him and he's been alive all this time while I thought he was dead and he never reached out once. I don't know him anymore, which is why I'm worried."

Stamping down her stubbornness, Caroline casts Klaus a sideways glance. "I get it..." she sighs, rubbing at her forehead. "We are all in this icky, stressful situation and I'm sorry too. I'm really not trying to make this harder on you, I swear."

Klaus shoots her a look that begs to differ, making her crack a smile despite how she felt just a few minutes earlier. But at her smile, his expression softens too, and she can tell now that he probably didn't get any sleep the night before worrying over everything, and she feels bad. She knows that he's not a bad guy and she appreciates everything he's doing for them, so she feels bad about making all of this harder for him. But there is this small part of her that knows, despite all that he says, if there is a chance to reconnect to the boy he raised, he would like it.

"I'm sorry," Klaus says again. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"Likewise," Caroline murmurs. "I'll keep my promise. If things during his meeting start to get hairy, we'll run away, okay? Just give me the signal."

Klaus smiles loosely, still concerned but looking significantly better knowing that she was on his side. "And what signal would that be?"

"Yelling 'run' would leave little room for confusion," Caroline jokes, her smile widening slightly at the playful huff that leaves the ancient hybrid next to her.

"Yes," Klaus says mirthfully, "and I suppose that would be an excellent idea if I didn't care for Marcellus knowing that we were about to flee from the scene." Then his expression sobers up a bit as they pull to a park in one of the spaces to walk the rest of the way through town to get to Rousseau's. But before they even exit the car, Klaus' expression hardens as he turns to look at her. "Listen to me, Caroline. Stick close, keep your eyes open, and don't let him get you into admitting anything. I would like to talk to him alone, but there is a reason that he invited you here and not me."

"As much as you know his tricks, he knows yours," Caroline says.

Klaus nods. "Just be careful of anything he asks you directly and don't offer too much detail. If we are going to play it off as you being human, then just admit to this, the baby's father, should Marcellus ask, is a witch. Or was. No connection to the New Orleans witches, but the magic in your baby makes it harder for you to carry it without being here. Marcellus, despite what impression I may give off, isn't cruel or illogical. If it makes sense, he will buy it, and that way you don't have to lie. I am of witch descendence. Just unpracticed."

That made sense to her, but honestly, Caroline never thought about it before.

"This is off-topic, I know," Caroline says, blue eyes wide, surprised that she never really thought about it like that, "but if you had been human, would you be able to use magic? Like Bonnie?"

Klaus nods. "Sure, probably not as good, although then again maybe not," he suddenly looks thoughtful, never having really considered it, "seeing as I am also a werewolf and I'm not sure if I would be able to do both. Be a werewolf and use magic like a witch. Dearest Esther never taught me how to use magic, perhaps fearing the same. Finn learned, as did Kol, and Rebekah learned a bit, but Elijah didn't have a lot of skill in it and no one bothered to see if I could."

Klaus shrugs, not really worried about it at this point but his words stab into Caroline's chest. "I don't know a lot about magic," Caroline says slowly, "but I guess I don't think it would affect it. So... if that's true, there's a chance our baby could be a witch, a werewolf, and have vampire blood in its veins."

Klaus smiles loosely, eyes softening and gaining this far away look. "Our baby is special, no doubt. Perhaps a little tribrid in the making." His soft expression hardens again, protectively, "Which means now, more than ever we must do everything we can to keep it safe."

Caroline nods in agreement. "We're in this together, right?"

"Right," Klaus agrees. "Now, let's go."


	12. The Meeting

**Author's Note: Hello, my loves! I know it's been a really long time. I've been going through a really bad bout of writers block with all of my stories, so I've been slowly plucking away at all kinds of chapters trying to get one done. I really am sorry for the long wait, although I appreciate everyone's kind words, they really do mean a lot. I'm happy to hear from all of you. I'm kind of iffy about this chapter but I do hope that you guys enjoy it, nevertheless!**

They weave through the streets of New Orleans with ease. Without needing to be told, Caroline sticks close to Klaus, keeping her head on a swivel to watch for any vampires that may be following them at Marcel's behest. She's never been great at stuff like that, but she wasn't able to notice anyone out of the ordinary that caught her attention, but she was so preoccupied looking around that she didn't notice Klaus kept having to stop to wait for her to catch up until he finally grabbed onto her hand and looped it through his arm to keep her close.

"Sorry," Caroline mumbles, before looking around again. She grabs the inside of his elbow tightly eyes scanning the crowd of faces.

"You're making it very obvious that you're looking for them with the way your head is spinning around like it's on a swivel, darling," Klaus says evenly, patting her hand a bit, while his eyes were set straight ahead. Caroline shoots him a look.

"Seriously?" Caroline grumbles. "I'm trying to be more aware, you know? Make sure the bad guys don't get the jump on us?"

Caroline glares at the amused look that Klaus shoots her. She rolls her eyes and looks around again as he says, "I think it's brilliant that you are willing to put your safety as a priority, but perhaps you are being a bit too obvious. Maybe you want Marcel's followers to know that you know that they are following us."

He sounded so amused, so playful, that it took a second too long for Caroline to really think about what he said. She casts him a sharp look with her eyebrows pulled together. "Wait! Is someone really following us right now?" Klaus gives her a look, like he's trying to decide if she's serious or not, which makes Caroline groan in exasperation. "There really is someone following us! I knew it. Who? Where are they?"

Klaus shakes his head, amused. He pats her hand again, saying, "Look over your shoulder, at the stall selling the cheap jewelry on the left. The chap with the unfortunate haircut and the tall fellow has been following us for the last few minutes. I'll need to remind Marcel of my warning."

Caroline casts him a sideways glance, not immediately remembering the warning, but when she does, she scoffs and rolls her eyes. She does grip his arm tighter just in case he decides to do good on that threat. She's not interested in seeing any spines today. Or any day, preferably. "Please don't."

Klaus sends her a look that she doesn't appreciate. "I have to ensure that my enemies know that they have to take me seriously."

Caroline rolls her eyes as she tightens her grip on Klaus's arm, moreso now to keep him from running off to do just that instead of just trying to be close to him. Okay, maybe a small part of her - the part of her that drew her into sleeping with Klaus in the first place - was still very attached to him. Her perception of him has really changed these last few weeks. To be honest, while she can remember why she didn't like him to begin with and what stopped her from letting herself get attached to him, she can't help but... she's really starting to like him. Like really like him.

Wait... was she falling for her baby daddy?

No, no way! That is way too cliche!

Caroline shakes her head, ignoring the curious look that Klaus sends her, as she forces the thought from her mind. She's pregnant and hormonal, she's going through a phase that probably has everything to do with the fact that she's pregnant with a supernatural werewolf-witch baby. She's bonded to Klaus, her werewolf-witch baby probably makes her want to be with him. Yeah, that's got to be it.

Something connected to Jelly Bean, and it's magic. That's got to be it. It has to be.

Once they get to Rousseau's, Klaus holds the door open for Caroline, which she thanks him for, before walking over to one of the open tables away from everyone else, figuring that a conversation of this caliber needed some privacy. Thankfully Klaus didn't say anything and just followed her over to the table, making sure to sit down next to her.

Caroline was okay for a while this morning, but now that they're here, at Rousseau's, she's starting to feel a bit nervous. She's not really sure what all she's going to say to Marcel, she just hopes that he's just going to ask her what is going on and she can be forthright. At least, as forthright as she can be, given the situation. She's still not ready to hop onto the 'We hate Marcel Gerard for reasons' train. She's not sure she's seen enough of him to think that he was as bad as everyone seems to think he is.

Despite all of that, she's still worried about how this is going to go. Why can't anything ever be easy for them?

Thankfully, Caroline didn't have to sit around fretting for long. Marcel lowers down in the seat in front of them not ten seconds after they did. Caroline blinks, feeling herself lean back and a bit closer to Klaus subconsciously. She's still not ready to jump onto the "Hate Marcel" bandwagon, but that doesn't mean she isn't going to be careful being around him. Especially since she doesn't know him and doesn't trust him. Yet.

"Good morning," Caroline says, amicably, forcing herself to relax. This is supposed to be friendly. Supposed to be.

Marcel's dark eyes flicker between her and Klause before he leans back in his seat, falling into a completely comfortable pose before flashing them a brilliant, beautiful smile that catches Caroline off guard again. Once more, he probably slays with that smile on the daily.

"Good morning, Caroline," he says with a lilt to his voice before his eyes flicker to the hybrid sitting next to her, "Klaus."

"Marcellus," Klaus greets, smiling back threateningly. Almost like bearing his teeth without actually bearing his teeth. Caroline glares hard at the side of his head until he backs off. Klaus leans back in his seat but lifts up one arm and draping it across the back of Caroline's chair. Whether it was a protective, possessive or unconscious action, Caroline's not sure, but she's not overly impressed with the macho, alpha male energy she's getting from these two. They are both trying to one-up each other and honestly, it's kind of annoying.

She shoves the feeling away to focus on the dark-skinned vampire in front of her, forcing her voice pleasant despite the maelstrom of emotions starting to whirl around inside of her. "Okay guys, I like a good testosterone-fueled verbal sparring match as much as the next girl, but I'm definitely gonna need a lot of mental prep if I'm going to sit through an hour of this."

Klaus sends her a look while Marcel flashes another thousand-watt smile her way. "I'm sorry about that." He slouches a bit, comfortably. "So, tell me about yourself, Caroline."

Caroline blinks, taking the fastest second she can to collect herself before opening her mouth, not entirely sure on what she's going to say when someone cuts her off before a sound can pass her lips, "Oh, hi. It's you again." Mouth hanging open, Caroline turns to see the person who stepped up next to them to see the bartender from the last time she was there.

It takes Caroline almost three entire seconds for the fellow blonde's name to come to her. "Oh, Cami, right? Hi! It's been a minute."

Cami nods, offering a genuine smile. "It has. It's nice to see you again, Caroline."

"Oh," Caroline gasps, eyes widening. "You remembered my name. I'd have thought a popular bar like this would get a lot of people. I can't believe you remembered me."

"Considering you paid an almost three hundred percent tip the last time I saw you, remembering your name was the least that I could do," Cami laughs, rolling her eyes.

Caroline flushes. "Well, don't say it like that. I only paid twenty bucks, but I was worried that the gumbo was going to be hella expensive and the tip wouldn't be good, but I'm glad to hear otherwise."

"Well, I appreciate it nonetheless," Cami admits, crossing her arms over her chest. "So, what can I get you guys?"

"I'll have your finest bourbon," Klaus says, smiling coyly, trying hard not to be aggressive. Not towards Cami, Caroline doesn't think, probably to Marcel and it's bleeding into his interactions with others. And honestly, Caroline can't seem to figure out what is going on with him. She knows that he's worried, and he's paranoid enough for the both of them, but this honestly feels borderline over obsessive. Maybe Caroline isn't seeing the finer points to this.

"Same here," Marcel says, as both gentlemen pull out their wallets with their ID's rather than use compulsion.

Cami nods, looking down at Caroline. "Are you old enough to drink?"

Caroline's face scrunches up, knowing that she's going to be stuck in a seventeen-year-old's body for the rest of her immortal life and have perpetual babyface. Once she can drink again, she's going to be carded forever. Well, she supposed there are worse things to deal with in the world. She's basically complaining about nothing. Woah, one day, her own child is going to look older than her. Holy cow.

"Uh," Caroline mumbles, shaking her head to pull from her reverie. "No, I'm not. I'm eighteen."

Cami nods. "Okay, anything else I can get you? Sweet tea? Water? Soda, maybe?"

Caroline shakes her head. "Oh no, no soda, please. Just water, thank you," Caroline says, rubbing at her stomach. She's not sure what it is, but soda has been upsetting her stomach a lot. Not that she was much of a soda drinker anyway, but something to break up the monotony every once and while doesn't hurt. But since getting pregnant, she would throw up after drinking it. Well, a lot of thinks make her throw up, but soda is almost immediate. At least the brown drinks haven't been going down gracefully.

Caroline can see Marcel staring at her curiously, while Klaus rubs at her back slowly, staring at the side of her face. She turns to look into his eyes as Cami walks away and she doesn't need to be a mind reader to know what he's thinking. He's worried about her. He's probably thinking that she should have gotten some blood in her before they left, and honestly, he's right. She can feel the scratchy feeling in the back of her throat. She had some blood yesterday, but then they went out dancing and wandering around and now she needs more.

Well, not at this moment. She can go a few more hours before it becomes unbearable, she thinks. Besides, she's been through worse.

She clears her throat and casts Klaus a sideways look, appreciating the comfort that he's offering by rubbing her back. She's so glad that he's there with her right now.

"Are you alright?" Marcel asks, narrowing his eyes slightly, looking between them.

"Perhaps we should do this another time," Klaus says, frowning, looking ready to grab onto Caroline's arm and pull her to her feet.

"No," Caroline says, shaking her head. "I'm fine," she says looking between both men before settling her eyes on Marcel. "You're weary of the big bad Klaus Mikaelson being here, I get it. I'll answer your questions, okay?"

Marcel looks into Caroline's eyes, studying her closely. His dark eyes staring into her own and then she saw the slow expanding of his irises. He doesn't say anything, though. He's not exactly using compulsion but she has the feeling that he's trying really hard to figure her out.

"I wouldn't even consider compulsion if I were you, Marcellus," Klaus growls, the hand that was rubbing her back slides down to her waist. "Compulsion won't work on her."

Dark eyes flash, both in surprise, as Caroline is once again sure he wasn't going to use compulsion, and in curiosity. "I wasn't..." His eyebrows pull together, still studying Caroline's face, trying to figure out why it is that compulsion won't work on her.

Caroline figured Klaus probably had an idea about why it wouldn't work on her - because obviously saying that Caroline was a vampire was a hundred percent not what they were going to do - but Caroline felt Marcel's dark eyes burrowing through her and she definitely panicked. Before she could even think about what she was saying, she hears herself blurt out, "I'm pregnant!"

Klaus frowns at the side of her head, no doubt vowing never to trust her in a high-tense situation ever again. Marcel was staring at her like he knew that there was something going on but this definitely wasn't it. And Cami stood frozen for a long moment at the head of the table, a trey with their drinks in her hand, staring at them with wide eyes, wondering what she just walked into. She looks between them, trying to decide how to give them their drinks without actually physically moving any closer and risk entering into the conversation.

"I'm..." Caroline looks between everyone. "I'm so sorry. That just kind of slipped out." She turns to stare into Klaus's angry eyes. "I just went rogue, I am so sorry."

Klaus sucks in a deep breath, blinking slowly while looking at her through long dark lashes. Oh yeah, she's in trouble. "Yes, we'll have to have a chat about all of this sometime later."

"Don't get mad at me," Caroline snaps, half angry because of his tone, half angry at herself for panicking. "Oh come on, I told you I'm terrible at lying. It's safer to just tell the truth. I'm sure he'll understand."

Klaus glowers at her, lips pulling into a tight line as he takes the bourbon that Cami quietly passes over to him and drowns it down in one quick motion before laying the glass down and doing a half-hearted motion for another one, all without taking his eyes off of Caroline. She shrinks under his gaze but has to look away toward the bartender laying down her glass of water. "Thank you, Cami."

Cami offers a little smile, still, obviously, a little caught off guard. She recovers quickly now that Caroline has addressed him. "You're welcome. And congratulations."

Caroline stares at her, paralyzed. For a long moment, she couldn't remember if anyone has ever said that to her since learning about her little jelly bean. Maybe they have and she just isn't able to recall right away if anyone has ever said that to her. And while she's been holding on to this wonderful love for the little life growing inside of her, she was never able to even accept someone else's congratulations. Because she accepted that she would never get to be a mom, she didn't expect that anyone would be able to congratulate her on the happiest moment of her life. But she is. She is going to be a mom, and with all the madness going around, she doesn't blame everyone for not saying it.

But hearing those words made Caroline choke back a sob, feeling her chest tighten as she struggles to regain control of herself. Thankfully her eyes only watered up before she was able to blink them away. "Thank you," Caroline says softly, relief washing over her. "Thank you for saying that, Cami."

Keenly, Cami seems to see how that affected Caroline, so she says again, softly, "Congratulations on your baby, Caroline."

Caroline laughs lightly, smiling brightly, finally feeling that joy. "Thank you. I definitely needed to hear that."

Cami nods, eyes crinkling kindly with her smile. "You're welcome." Then she turns her attention to the table. "Another drink for the two of you gentlemen? And what about food?"

"I think I'll just take another drink, as will my friend here," Marcel says smoothly, dark eyes slightly wider than normal. "Caroline?"

Caroline shakes her head. She's hungry, definitely, but not for anything that Rousseau's can provide. Well, technically it can, but it's not on the menu. And Caroline isn't hungry enough to forsaken not drinking from humans. She'll just have to hold off until they get home later. Or, she can convince Klaus to drive them back home so that she can get a blood bag in her before they go about the rest of their day.

"I'm okay for now, thank you."

Cami nods before turning around and heading back to the bar to get Marcel and Klaus another drink.

"Congratulations," Marcel says, finally overcoming his surprise.

"Thank you," the baby vampire says softly. Caroline relishes in the warm feeling of congratulations for a moment longer before turning around completely in her chair to cup Klaus's face. His lips are pressed tightly together as his jaw is set, staring at her through long lashes. There is a maelstrom of emotions swirling in his eyes as he struggles not to start yelling, which Caroline definitely appreciates.

"Breathe," Caroline says slowly, staring into his eyes. "I know you're mad right now, but you need to breathe. You're kind of freaking me out."

"We will have to talk about your inability to keep a secret when we get out of here, I think," Klaus growls.

"Come on now, Klaus. She wants to tell me the truth, there isn't anything wrong with that," Marcel says, leaning forward while interlacing his fingers together. "What's the big deal with all of this. Especially if you're not here to cause problems."

Klaus turns dark, angry eyes toward Marcel, lips pressed so tightly together Caroline is afraid his jaw is going to fuse together. Caroline turns to look at Marcel, releasing Klaus's face, but grabbing onto his hand under the table. She definitely couldn't hold him back if he really wanted to fight, but she's hoping that the little circles her thumb is rubbing into the back of his hand will help to calm him down a little bit.

"You'll have to forgive Klaus," Caroline says. "He's a bit over-protective of me."

Marcel's face falls neutral aside from the way he presses his lips together, very much like how Klaus does. Caroline has to wonder who picked up the trait from whom.

"I'm starting to see that," Marcel admits.

"Caroline's family is cursed," Klaus says, finally reigning in his anger and annoyance to work with what Caroline has given him. Marcel looks over at him, curiously. His guard is obviously up, but he is open to at least hearing what Klaus has to say. "The women of her father's family have a difficult time carrying children, it seems. So a few generations ago, one of the women came to New Orleans to visit the witches for a way to help them carry children."

Carefully, Caroline uses her free hand to hold up the red gem around her neck for Marcel to see. "This is what they gave her."

Marcel looks at it curiously. "And what does that do?"

"It filters the energy of the mother into the baby to help it survive," Klaus says easily, his imaginary hackles finally lowering as he seems to get control of the conversation. Caroline can see his mind working through this story carefully. Despite that, though, his words are flippant, easy, like they are talking about the weather. "Because not only is Caroline pregnant but her own physical energy is being siphoned into the baby in her womb, she is far frailer than before. I'm not interested in broadcasting her weakness for all to see."

Caroline frowns at that a bit, not liking being considered frail. Technically, she was, but this was only temporary. She's going to be strong enough to protect her baby from everyone in this world, including but not limited to, these scheming New Orleans witches. But if it was going to buy them a bit more time, than she was going to just let Klaus say what he wanted. For now.

"Why would anyone care about some young pregnant girl?" Marcel asks, eyebrows pulling together, leaning close. He nods his thanks when Cami drops off another glass for them before going to see to other customers that came in. He gives Caroline an apologetic look. "No offense."

"None taken," Caroline mumbles as she shrugs. Normally it wouldn't really be all that important. It's just who the baby's father is and the fact that, oh yeah, she's a vampire who shouldn't be able to have children. But he doesn't need to know that. At least not yet. She's still not getting any overly bad signs from Marcel. He doesn't seem like a bad guy. Wary, cautious, but not bad.

"She's important to me," Klaus says lightly like they were still talking about the weather before breezing past what he said with, "and up until now the woman of her family has been having human babies. Their human mothers were able to share enough power to keep them alive. Caroline's baby is stronger than she is, hence we needed to come to New Orleans to strengthen the necklace."

Marcel takes a quick drink of his bourbon before pushing the class away and lacing his fingers together on the table. "And so you came to the witches for help, did you?"

"Fancy little leash you've got on them, Marcellus," Klaus says, grinning in a way that wasn't friendly. "And no, we didn't come for the witch's help. Caroline didn't know that she was pregnant, they had to be the ones to tell her."

Marcel frowns, looking around the room for a moment, making sure that no one was paying any attention to them, while he collects his thoughts. Then, he looks back over at Caroline. "And are you okay?"

The question, and the sincerity behind it, catch her off guard. "I... I'm okay," Caroline admits. "I never thought kids were in the cards for me. Needless to say, I was surprised. But because my baby is stronger than me, I am not able to carry it to term without being here in New Orleans."

Marcel nods slowly, digesting this information. "And the witches, what did they want in return for telling you this information?"

_'Nothing,' _was the word that was forming on Caroline's lips when Klaus cuts her off with a surprising, "They want me to distract you."

Marcel's dark eyes find his sire, studying him closely. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Klaus says darkly, leaning closer to his one-time son with equally dark eyes. "And that fancy leash that you've got on the witches is going to need a bit tightening if you ask me.

Marcel's eye twitches. "Noted. And so, that's what you're here for? To distract me? You've definitely lost your touch, Klaus, if you think you can throw me off my game simply by telling me your winning strategy."

Klaus doesn't respond right away, still looking into Marcel's eyes. Caroline can see that he's warring inside over something. Marcel, no doubt, sees it too as he opens his mouth, about to add something when he registers that look and decides to give him a moment to figure out what he wants to say. After a few baited seconds, Klaus says, quietly, "All this time I've been arguing with Caroline about what we should do, and this entire time she's been telling me that I have to be honest with you. We aren't the same people we were the day of the fire and while I'm still not sure about everything that happened, Caroline believes that I need to at least remember what I felt back then, before Mikael burned New Orleans to the ground, chasing my siblings and myself away."

Marcel definitely looks like that wasn't where he was expecting this to go. He blinks a few times, trying to wrap his mind around what was just said before staring at the ancient hybrid in front of him. "And..?"

"Perhaps I've been overly hostile, given the situation..." Klaus concedes. "But you have to understand, Marcellus, I thought that you were dead, and you gave me no reason to think otherwise. I didn't even know you were alive when Caroline and I came to New Orleans, some witches had to tell me. Do you know how that made me feel? The boy I raised like my own son? Alive and well after years of me thinking that he was dead?"

His words were angry, but also vulnerable. Caroline could tell that this wasn't easy for him. She can see that still, despite what he'd been saying leading up to this day, there was a part of Klaus, a big part of him, that simply missed the boy he raised. His words now, his expression, show her that mask that he's been wearing is starting to slip a bit. Marcel being alive is a good thing, but the fact that he never told Klaus he was is hurting him. Hurting him bad. It feels like a betrayal, and Klaus doesn't handle betrayal well.

Thankfully it's manifesting itself as mistrust and pain and not as screaming and bloodshed. So, silver lining, Caroline guesses.

Marcel nods slowly, remorse written across his face as he considers his words carefully. "I'm sorry, Klaus. I wish I could take it all back, but I can't. By the time the literal smoke cleared from New Orleans, you and your siblings were gone and I had a city to rebuild. I'm sorry that it got so bad. There is nothing I wouldn't give to change things, but I can't."

"That doesn't mean that you two can't talk it out like reasonable adults, _or _you guys could just start anew," Caroline offers. She raises her eyebrows, looking between the two men.

Marcel looks away for a moment, honestly considering it before he blinks a few times and casting Klaus a look. "Wait, are you distracting me, right now?"

Caroline groans, rubbing at her face. "No! Oh my gosh, I don't know why you guys are always so paranoid about everything, but it has honestly got to be exhausting. I have no idea how you can just keep going. I'm tired just listening to the two of you."

Marcel shrugs his shoulders. "I'm sorry, it's not an unreasonable question."

No, honestly it wasn't, considering that it was what Klaus said. "No, Marcel," Klaus stresses, giving him a look. "If I was going to distract you for the witches, I would definitely be more creative about it. No, this..." He sighs. "The witches plan to use me to distract you and I have no interest in being anyone's pawn in the game of New Orleans, let alone some witches that are threatening the girl I fancy and my... _her _unborn baby."

Marcel's eyes sharpen as he looks over at Caroline. "The witches are threatening you?"

Caroline looks away, nodding. Thankfully it was the truth, and Caroline is happy that Klaus is willing to be forthright with the man he raised, but she knows that it is also, in part because Klaus is probably going to be using Marcel - which is kind of sad. But she could be wrong and maybe this is the beginning of their reunion and reconciliation. Who knows?

"The spell you killed Jane-Ann Deveraux for?" Klaus says, drawing Marcel's dark eyes back over to him.

"Yeah..?" Marcel probes, leaning in closer. Caroline looks over at Klaus, knowing that he's no doubt planning something but she's not sure she knows what he's planning, but she really does hope that at the end of this, there can be peace. Caroline does really like the idea of them all getting along and Jelly Bean having just one more person to love it.

"It was to link Caroline to one of the witches here in New Orleans."


	13. Recover

**Author's Note: And we are trucking on through! Let me know what you guys thought about the meeting with Marcel, and what the future looks like for our New Orleans gang! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

Caroline's grip on Klaus's hand hurts her own hand, but somehow her face managed to stay even. There is a long moment of silence where Caroline can only hear the sounds of the bar around them. Water moving through pipes, food being prepared in the kitchen, people talking amongst themselves, or walking around through the rooms. And if she focuses hard enough, she can hear the blood flowing through the veins of the person sitting at the table behind her. She quickly reaches forward with her free hand and grabs at her glass, bringing it to her lips and swallows a few gulps knowing that it won't help with the thirst scratching at her throat, or even take the edge off.

Maybe she was wrong earlier. Maybe she needs to get out of here sooner than she thought. But she can still hold on as she shoves down the flash of hunger that threatens to shift her eyes.

It doesn't, thankfully. But she can't sit in this silence anymore.

"I don't think they'll hurt me so long as Klaus is pretending to play along," Caroline chokes out, pushing the water away a bit.

Marcel is staring at Caroline, but his eyes are far away. While on her, they appear to be looking through her at something beyond. The thoughts that draw him in. His thumbs thump against the tabletop in an interesting rhythm that seems like it could be from a song, but it's nothing Caroline recognizes.

It takes him a long moment to process the information before asking, "And the witch? Who is it?"

Caroline's jaw snaps shut when Klaus squeezes her hand. She forces herself not to look at him as he says, his voice in a low growl more akin to an animal than a person. "If there was any way I could deal with whichever which it was without threatening the life of Caroline or her baby, I would. For now, I'll let the witches play their game, thinking that they are in control."

"And then what, Klaus?" Marcel asks, blinking back into the present. "What are you going to do? Slaughter the witches?"

"Why not?" Klaus asks flippantly. "They are so eager to draw upon their ancestors, why not let them join them?"

"Because that's wrong," Caroline blurts out. Klaus sighs, casting her a sideways glance. "Don't look at me like that, Klaus. You know it's wrong. I'm sorry, Marcel, I don't know what's going on, and honestly, I don't super care one way or the other, but this is his fault. He's the one that's oppressing them and they are lashing out in whatever way they can. They shouldn't all have to die because they're fighting back against someone who is infringing on their rights."

Marcel raises an eyebrow while Klaus gives her a look. "And whose side are you on, pre tell?"

Caroline scoffs, frowning at the Hybrid. "I'm on our side. Or my side, whatever. The point is, I have no love for these witches, especially since they are threatening the life of my baby all because they want to stiff-arm you into distracting Marcel for whatever reason they need you to do that, but I'm just saying... I can't exactly invalidate their side of this conflict," she says, shrugging her shoulders.

Klaus glares at her and for a moment she couldn't figure out why he was getting mad at her again, and then it hit her. They were supposed to be expressing their dislike for the witches to assuage Marcel that they weren't really against him. She could have slapped herself. Honestly, she was making this about a thousand times harder for him than it had to be. She makes a face back at him, hoping the apologetic look is enough to convey her realizing what she did wrong. Klaus gets the message with a flutter of his long lashes but she can tell he's mad.

She could honestly slap herself.

Caroline looks over at Marcel, trying to figure out a way out of this without making it obvious that she's backtracking. "I know how all of this must sound..." she says slowly, trying to organize her thoughts, "but I'm just trying to be as impartial about this as possible. I'm not a witch, I don't have magic spells to help me out in any way, but... my baby will. Probably, I mean."

The new bit of information catches Marcel's attention. "Oh yeah? Your baby daddy is a witch?"

"Was," Caroline blurts out. "He's dead now."

Marcel seems somewhat surprised, as does Klaus. So easily killed off in their story. Now he looks a bit insulted. Caroline had to stop herself from rolling her eyes, there was literally no way to please him.

"Me being pregnant was a surprise," Caroline carries on, forcing herself to ignore Klaus staring at the side of her head. "It's as Klaus said, I didn't know I was pregnant until the witches here told me."

"Is the baby's father from New Orleans?" Marcel asks, amicably. Definitely could be a probing question, but he seems sincere in it.

"No," Caroline says, shaking her head. "His family actually comes from Europe."

Klaus seems genuinely surprised that she would remember something that he only mentioned in passing. Naturally, Klaus's accent kind of helped her down the path to this half-truth, but if she recalled correctly, he said something about his mother being from some part of northern Europe. Which is probably where his... uh, Mikael is from too? She's not sure. She's lucky she remembers the absolute basics of Viking history. And she means the absolute basics. Bear minimum.

She's not sure why he's even slightly impressed, she could have also just guessed from his accent. But she supposes if it makes him happy, for whatever reason, then at least she can accept that.

"I see..." Marcel says slowly. "Because your baby is a witch, you can't be compelled, I get it."

Caroline isn't even slightly sure if that's true if a human mother carrying a witch baby is immune to compulsion, but it makes perfect sense and seeing as both of the older vampire and the hybrid isn't denying it, there has to at least be a grain of truth in it. At least that means that no one is going to go off on her not being able to be compelled. Which begs the question, can Originals compel her because she's a vampire, or would they actually be unable to because she's carrying a witch? There are just so many questions.

If she can't be compelled by an Original, that would be pretty cool. Not that it's a rampant problem that she has, but still.

"I think that this has offered all of us much to think about, don't you, Marcel?" Klaus asks, face composed.

"I think so," Marcel admits, looking between the two of them.

Klaus reaches into his wallet and pulls out a wad of cash pulling out a couple of twenties and passing it over to Caroline with a sweet, "Would you find dear Cami and makes sure she's paid for our drinks, love?" Caroline nods, climbing to her feet, relieved that this was coming to an end - at least for now - and slides out of the booth with Klaus before heading to the bar where Cami was serving up more drinks. As she walked away from the table, Caroline couldn't help herself and listen in.

"Listen closely, Marcel, now that you know, keep your men off of Caroline. I was lenient leading up to this, but I won't warn you again. Keep them away from her. I don't know them, nor do I trust them."

"They're my guys, they won't hurt her, Klaus," Marcel says, standing up so he's eye to eye with Klaus. "Besides, seeing as you're so strangely possessive over her, you'd think you'd want more people looking out for her."

"I don't trust your band of baby vampires to look after Caroline," Klaus growls. "Not with the death grip you have one the witches, and the collective hatred that the vampires have for them, I'm not letting them anywhere near Caroline, or the baby growing in her belly."

Marcel and Klaus stare at each other as Caroline peaks over her shoulder at them, waiting for Cami to finish up with the order she's working on. She sucks in a breath, wondering if they were going to start fighting each other right here, so soon after it seemed like they'd come to a somewhat amicable end to the hostilities, at least for a moment.

"Fine," Marcel says slowly, "but only because you're so adamant about this, and I want us to be back on good terms." He presses the tips of his fingers onto the table, staring into Klaus's eyes unflinching. "Tell me, Klaus. What's the fascination with this girl? What's she to you?"

Klaus's eye twitches slightly as he sucks in a breath, tilting his head in such a way so that he was looking through his long lashes at Marcel, trying to decide something. "You don't have to worry about Caroline, Marcellus."

"Hey."

Caroline jumps, spinning around to look at Cami, who was smiling back at her. "Oh, hey, sorry. I was... um," she glances over at her shoulder to see Marcel and Klaus still staring at each other before looking back at Cami, not sure what to say. "Uh..."

"Eavesdropping?" Cami guesses, raising her eyebrows.

"Kind of," Caroline admits, shrugging her shoulders. "Anyway, we are heading out. Here." Caroline passes over the cash.

"Thanks," Cami says, taking the bills before looking at them. "Give me a second to get your change."

Caroline waves her hand. "Don't worry about it. Klaus is paying."

"Should I just give it to him directly?" Cami asks, blue eyes blown wide.

Caroline shrugs her shoulders again. "Nah, probably not. He didn't ask for change. Besides, it's probably not worth his time to stuff coins back into his wallet. I doubt he'll even notice."

Cami stares at her, as if not sure if she should believe what she just heard or not. "Are you certain?"

Caroline nods. "Yeah, I'm sure he won't care. Have a good day, Cami!" She waves a bit, turning around to see Klaus standing by the door, expectantly waiting for her. She starts to make her way over, waving at Cami as she yells her grateful goodbye, before hesitating and moving over to Marcel before going to straight to Klaus. She puts a hand on his arm when he doesn't immediately look up at her, too lost in troubling thoughts.

"Caroline?" Marcel murmurs, surprised to see her standing there.

"I know it might not have seemed like it just now," Caroline admits. "But Klaus was really hurt when he realized that you were still alive and didn't think to inform him." Marcel opens his mouth, no doubt to defend himself when Caroline shook her head, squeezing his arm a bit before looking into his eyes. "My past with Klaus is turbulent and I'm sure it's safe to assume yours isn't picture perfect either, but even you should understand how much he loves you. His anger comes from a place of hurt, not hate. He refused to be used against you and despite the fact that he's so angry right now isn't because he's forgotten his love for you, in fact, I think it's because he remembers it very well."

Marcel lowers his dark eyes for a moment, looking at her hand on his arm before nodding slowly and looking back up at Caroline and there is a sadness in his eyes that gives Caroline the impression that maybe the love and hurt are working both ways. "I get it. I know Klaus well. I knew that once he found out I was still alive, and it wasn't from me, he wasn't going to take it gracefully."

Caroline smiles softly, finally pulling her arm away. "Give it some time, then you two really should talk. I don't know exactly what happened that caused this fissure between the two of you, but I think that you owe it to each other, and yourselves, to at least see if this relationship is worth saving. We're talking a hundred years ago. Whatever was so bad back then... could it really be so important now?"

Marcel lets out a little sigh, nodding his head slowly, admitting quietly, "Maybe not." Caroline nods once to herself before turning and heading toward the hybrid, who was frowning at her but not saying anything when Marcel calls out to her once more. She pauses, glancing over her shoulder to stare at him. He studies her for a long moment as if starting to understand something before a small, thoughtful smile works its way across his lips. "Thanks for coming today, Caroline."

"I guess I'll see you around, Marcel," Caroline says sweetly. With that, she makes her way over to the ancient hybrid, thanking him as he holds the door open for her before following her out.

They walk in silence for a while, heading back in the direction of Klaus's car. Surrounded now by so many humans, the smell of them filling her nose and the sound of the blood pumping in their veins awakens the vampire side in Caroline so strongly that her eyes shift without warning. She ducks her head low, hoping her long blonde hair will cover it as she grabs tightly onto Klaus's arm and buries her head into his shoulder to help hide it. Klaus doesn't look at her but somehow seems to know without words and picks up the pace.

Then Caroline says, so softly she knows that had Klaus not been hyper-focused on her, he probably wouldn't have heard her, "I'm thirsty."

He nods his head, gripping her hand tightly in his own in a form of reassurance that she appreciates and murmurs, "I know, love."

* * *

"Well, considering you guys aren't giving each other the cold shoulder and Klaus isn't using one of Marcel's bones to pick his teeth, I'm sure it's safe to say that all went well?" Stefan asks as they walk in through the front door. Bonnie looks a bit repulsed by that, her nose crinkling at it, but shakes her head, dismissing it before looking over at Caroline as she makes a beeline to the kitchen.

"Are you okay, Care?" Bonnie asks, chasing after her.

"I'm okay!" Caroline calls, digging out a blood bag and nearly forgetting her manners and tearing it open with her teeth. Thankfully she didn't but it was dangerously close to it. She's definitely going to have to be more careful, especially if being pregnant could make her ravenously hungry. The last thing she would want to do is hurt or even kill, someone while in a frenzy.

Caroline waves at Bonnie as she slurps down a blood bag, barely stopping to take a single breath.

Klaus walks over to her, reaching into the fridge to grab another one, holding it between his hands as Hayley and Elijah come into the kitchen from one of the side rooms together. Klaus tells them how it went with Marcel and as soon as Caroline cleared the first bag of blood, Klaus takes it from her and passes her the second one, not even pausing in his story. Caroline was too hungry to even pretend to question it. She gobbles down the second one in time for Klaus to finish with his recap.

She emerges from the blood bag, gasping for air with an, "Oh my god, I thought I was going to die."

Hayley gives her a worried look. "Are you okay?"

Caroline nods, throwing away the blood bag and wiping the bit of dribble off of her chin. "I'm sorry about that. The hunger just hit me like a freaking freight train. I knew I was starting to get hungry but oh man, that was bad."

"You're going to have to be more careful," Bonnie says, worriedly, as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"No kidding," Caroline murmurs. "That was definitely a close one. I was okay while we were in the bar, but as soon as we left and we were out in the street, that's when it really hit me."

"Are you alright now?" Hayley asks.

Caroline nods. "Yes, I am so much better. Thanks." She rubs her stomach, letting out a little sigh before turning to Klaus. "Okay, how is Jelly Bean?"

Klaus's eyes fall to Caroline's stomach, tilting his head slightly to listen for a few long moments, a small smile working its way over his face. "Jelly Bean sounds good. Nice and healthy."

"Speaking of," Bonnie says, uncrossing her arms. "I think it's about time we schedule an appointment for you."

"I'm a pregnant vampire," Caroline huffs. "Don't you think it's all going to come back weird?"

"I know you're a pregnant vampire," Bonnie says, simply, "but your baby is human. We need to have you see a real doctor so that we can make sure that everything is going okay. Its heartbeat might be strong, but that doesn't mean everything is going well. We should just see an OB just to be sure."

"I know," Caroline says, rubbing at her forehead. "I need to call and talk to my mom. She needs to know."

Bonnie nods slowly. "I hate to be the one to say this, Care, but I would do it sooner rather than later if I was you." Her look of sympathy was definitely unwelcomed. Caroline has been avoiding this reality for far too long and as horrible as it is, the insecure and childish part of her wants to still pretend that the Mystic Falls part of her friend group doesn't know about her sweet little Jelly Bean because she would have to explain it again, the how and why.

And Caroline is kind of a coward.

"I know. I should just do it now and get it over with," Caroline says, trying really hard to talk herself into this.

"You don't want to tell your own mom about your baby?" Hayley asks, clearly confused. "Why not? She's your mom?"

"She is, and I love her, but she's going to absolutely loath the idea of me having to stay here for decidedly at least four months, but she's also going to have to accept that not _only _did I break the Locked-Knees Alliance with all the ladies of Mystic Falls by sleeping with Klaus," Elijah, Stefan, Bonnie, _and _Klaus cracked at least a smile at that while Hayley's eyebrows ticked up toward her hairline, "but somehow his Hybrid Magicalness - and no, that isn't a euphemism for anything - got me pregnant in the crossfire - also not a euphemism."

Once more, Caroline's clownish baby daddy had the nerve to look proud at his accomplishment. Not that he aimed to get her pregnant, but he is definitely seeing this as a win on his part. Not that Caroline absolutely hates it or anything. Having Stefan and Bonnie accepting it all has really helped her feel better, but she knows it's going to be hard to tell Elena, Matt, and oh lord, Tyler too if she can get ahold of him, but her mom is going to probably be the hardest to tell. Her mom, who has always been super protective of her because she knew about the monsters out there and wanted to protect her from them.

Well, not only is she one of those monsters now, as a vampire, but she is pregnant by one of the oldest there are.

"I get that it's scary because she's your mom, but she's going to be a grandmother, she deserves to know," Bonnie says reasonably. She offers a small, crooked smile that is reassuring, which Caroline knows is the point.

"I know," Caroline mumbles. She sucks in a deep breath before looking over at Klaus. "I'm going to give her a call, then we can go out afterward, okay?"

Klaus nods as Caroline steels herself for this conversation. She moves away from the kitchen, digging out her phone as Elijah says smoothly to his younger brother, "Another date, brother?"

Klaus beams at Caroline when she glances back at him. She rolls her eyes as she pulls her phone out of her back pocket and steps out onto the front porch, taking a moment to collect her thoughts before typing in her mother's number. She tries to control the sinking in her gut and the nervous shake of her hands in anticipation when Liz picks up the phone with an easy, "Hello?"

"Hey mom, it's Caroline," Caroline says, cringing a bit in worry. "I'm just checking in."

"Hey, Caroline. You caught me at the perfect time, I'm on my break so I've got some time to talk," Liz says. Caroline can hear the smile in her mother's voice. "How is it going in New Orleans?"

So Caroline takes some time to update her mom on the goings-on in New Orleans. About how it's structured and what's been going on. She tells her about how they met with Marcel in the morning and kind of how that went.

"Sounds complicated," Liz admits a few moments after Caroline went quiet. Caroline sits down on the step, running her fingers through her hair. Liz, and her amazing mom senses, waits until Caroline has collected herself for a few moments longer before she says, softly, "There's more, isn't there? You want to tell me something?"

"It's nothing bad," Caroline blurts, feeling like a little kid again, having to own up to something that she wasn't sure she wanted to say. Liz doesn't say anything, just waits patiently for Caroline to build up the nerve. One day, Caroline hopes that she can have Liz's uncanny mom's ability to just know when to hold on and b patient when she needs to be.

Caroline sighs softly, looking out over the wide-open front yard before saying, "I have to tell you something, and you have to promise to listen all the way through without getting bad at me."

"I'm listening, Caroline," Liz says softly. "I can't promise that I won't be mad, but I'll be less mad hearing it from you."

That doesn't necessarily make Caroline feel any better, but it's going to have to do. "Okay, I'm not sure how to say this other than to just say it." Caroline sucks in a deep breath before quietly saying, "The night of the Mikaelson Gala, I had sex with Klaus. Unbeknownst to both of us, he got me pregnant because neither of us used protection _because _well, we're both vampires. Well, he's a hybrid, but either way. The witches of New Orleans somehow knew about it, which is why they used me to get him here."

Liz is silent.

Caroline waits a moment, then two, then three, before anxiously wringing her hands together. "Mom? Please say something. You are freaking me out."

"I..." Liz says slowly. "I'm just trying to understand. You're pregnant? Are you serious? How?"

"When Klaus broke the werewolf curse on him, it must have allowed him to... you know? Have babies. Well, I'm the first person he's slept with so... I guess he magically overrides my inability to have babies. So, yeah," Caroline says, rubbing at the back of her neck. "I'm sorry we kept it from you, mom. We really didn't know until we got here and we've been trying to work through this craziness since then."

Liz sighs and Caroline can imagine her mother running her hand through her hair and Caroline suddenly wishes that she was sitting in front of her mom. Face to face, having this conversation. Yes, this was definitely an in-person conversation to have. She wishes she could take her mother's hands and look her in the eye. She wishes that she could hug her mother right now because while she's excited and happy about Jelly Bean, she's scared out of her mind. As much as she knows Mystic Falls needs its sheriff, Caroline wished she had Liz there with her. To tell her what to do and how to be a good mom.

Despite their differences and the way that Caroline treated her, Liz was the best mom.

"So you're really going to have a baby?" Liz asks softly. "You really are pregnant?"

Caroline smiles sweetly to herself. "Yeah, mom. I haven't gone in for any appointments yet, but Klaus can hear the baby's heartbeat. I'm going to go in soon, I'm sure, and I'll call you as soon as I learn more."

Liz lets out a long, drawn-out breath. "Wow... this is just a lot to take in. I want to see ultrasounds. Go and see an OB-GYN as soon as possible, Caroline. This is very unorthodox, to begin with, your situation. The women of your father's family have a tough time carrying babies as it is, I can't imagine what carrying a supernatural baby would be like."

Oh, well, now she tells Caroline. That would have been a nice thing to know. Caroline had always wanted to be a mother, so it would have been nice to know that she was going to have a tough time carrying babies.

Then again, Caroline can understand why she never said. Caroline turned into a vampire and the chances of her ever being a birth mom vanished. Or, so she thought. Then of course Klaus comes around and blows up their way of life - which she's not mad about at this point.

"Okay, I will, mom," Caroline says, grateful that Liz was taking this so well.

"So..." Liz says slowly after a moment of silence. "How is Klaus dealing with all of this? Are you guys getting along, at least?"

"Yeah," Caroline says, running a hand through her hair. "We're getting along really well. He's been looking out for me and making sure I'm okay. He's really good about checking in on me and taking care of me. He's been.. he's been really good."

Liz hums to herself for a long moment. Someone says something on the other line to which she replies, "Okay, give me a moment." Then to Caroline, she says, "I've got to get back to work, Caroline, but as for Klaus, I'm glad that he's being nice to you and looking after you. I suppose it's the least that he can do. But we need to talk more later, okay?"

"I know," Caroline says softly. "And we will. I love you, mom."

"I love you too," Liz says affectionately.

After they hang up, Caroline takes a couple of minutes to stare out over the open yard, really taking in the quiet before saying, softly, "I know that there was a lot of drama between the two of you, but were you ever close to Esther?"

Klaus steps out the front door and lowers down onto the step next to her, licking his bright red lips slowly. He must have just fed. "For a time, perhaps. For all her misdeeds, Esther did love her children. She did try to do what was best for them... just so long as it was also what was best for her. I think at the heart of who she was, Esther wasn't bad, but she keeps falling into this vicious cycle of thinking that only she knew best, or Mikael was too scary to deny."

Caroline looks over at Klaus. "Was Mikael ever... you know? Bad to her? Like hit her and stuff?"

Klaus blinks slowly, teleporting back in time to the days when he was human. "No," he says softly. "She was a good wife. It doesn't mean that he didn't abuse her in a different way. No, physical hitting was reserved for me and me alone. None of my brothers or my sister were subjected to it. A push or a shove, perhaps, but that was it."

"So he was just terrible to you, and for no reason?" Caroline asks softly. "And Esther just let him?"

Klaus nods slowly. "I think she tried to protect me, in her own way. But so long as it didn't compromise her perfect family. In some ways, even she was defenseless to him, I think."

"That can't be," Caroline gasps. "Esther was like this kick-ass, powerful witch. I don't care how good of an ax-throwing, boat-rowing, hunter of hunters Viking he was, she could toss him into the next century if she wanted to. I get being scared. I also get loving someone so much you'd forgive them for hurting you. But you are her son. And for as far as he knew, you were his too. I just will never understand why she would sit back and let it happen."

Klaus shakes his head, letting out a sigh. "One of the greater mysteries of Esther. She claims great love for all her children but refuses to accept punishment for her own actions."

"When my dad found out I was a vampire, he kidnapped me, threw me into a dark room and tortured me," Caroline admits. Klaus turns to stare at the side of her head, surprised. "He hated vampires and wanted to ensure that I could go against the nature of what I became. He would pour sunlight onto my back without my daylight ring and torture me with vervain. Every time my eyes would shift at the sight of blood, he would torture me more. It broke my heart because he was my dad and I loved him. Even as he hurt me and tortured me... he was my dad." Caroline looks over at Klaus, feeling pain and sadness both at what happened and losing the man who raised her. "Was it like that with Mikael?"

Crinkles appear between Klaus's eyes as he presses his lips tightly together. "I suppose we are more alike than I thought, Caroline."

"My mom found me, told my dad that I was still their daughter, and if he ever hurt me again, she'd kill him. My mom, who also just found out that I was a vampire, the very thing she's been protecting Mystic Falls from. My dad was unable to accept me was what made my mom accept m, oddly enough." Caroline smiles thinly. "It's not going to be like that for Jelly Bean."

Klaus shakes his head. "Certainly not. No one shall ever hurt our daughter."

Caroline laughs, laying her head on his shoulder. "No, people will always hurt them, because that's the world we live in. But we are going to do better than our parents. Jelly Bean is never going to worry that his father is going to hurt him or that her mother is going to betray her. Jelly Bean is going to be as happy as possible, surrounded by the Mikaelson clan and by team Mystic Falls. It's going to grow up happy and healthy, knowing that mommy and daddy might not be perfect," she smiles up at Klaus's soft expression, "but we are going to do our best, no matter what, to make sure everything is okay."

"I couldn't agree more. Jelly Bean won't have to recover from its childhood."


	14. Appointment

**Author's Note: Hello, loves! I'm sorry about the long wait! I just love hearing from everyone! Thank you all for reaching out! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

"So, Klaus," Caroline says, glancing over at the ancient hybrid next to her. "Where are we going to go today?"

Klaus purses his lips at her, thoughtfully. "Anywhere you had in mind, love?"

"Not yet," Caroline admits. "But you know, I should hope online and do some research and see what the sites are around New Orleans and make a plan for a day." Caroline gasps, eyes wide as she grabs onto Klaus's arm. "Oh! We could all go! Stefan and Bonnie and Elijah could come. We could make a full day of it! Get away from the schemes and the plotting for just a day! Oh, it would be so much fun! I should make an itinerary!"

"That sounds fun," Klaus says amicably, sliding his hand over the one she has on his arm, but she's so wrapped up in her excitement that she hardly thinks to notice it. "Or perhaps you would just like to go. Just get out there and see New Orleans for its beauty. Go where your feet take you and not worry so much about schedules and planning."

Caroline scoffs, rolling her eyes. "Have you ever met me, Klaus? I can't just do that."

Klaus grins back at her. "Perhaps with some practice you can, dear Caroline."

Caroline shakes her head, trying not to get flustered at the handsome look on his face as he stares so intently into her eyes. It's definitely a different feeling to be the center focus of a man so powerful - not that she would tell him that. She pushes the thought to the back of her mind, then stomps it down into the dust while saying, "I don't think I can do that, Klaus."

Klaus stares at her intensely, pride sparkling in his pretty blue eyes. "Oh love, how can you so easily say that? Especially since you have already effortlessly proven to me that you can do everything you set your mind to?"

Caroline feels the flush she was fighting rearing its ugly head. "Look at you and your pretty words. Do you honestly think a simple compliment is going to win you points with me?"

Klaus's grin spreads. "No, my dear, you are far too intelligent for simple flattery to work on you."

Caroline laughs, rolling her eyes. "Don't patronize me."

Klaus stares straight into her eyes, his expression wide and open. "I wouldn't dare patronize you, Caroline. I would be much too scared for the resulting retaliation."

Caroline rolls her eyes again, resting her head on his arm, taking a moment to look out over the front lawn. This feeling washes over her again. That same comforting feeling that she's been getting from Klaus a lot lately. "Hey, Klaus?"

"Yes, Caroline?" Klaus asks softly, running his thumb over the back of her hand and knuckles, staring off over the yard too.

"Do you know a lot about witch babies?"

Klaus hums softly, deep in his throat, the vibrations tickling the top of her head. "Perhaps more than most. Why? Are you concerned about something? Something about our baby?"

"I'm not worried," Caroline says, and honestly, she's not. There have to be worse things in the world than the situation that she's in. As tough as it is, Caroline can definitely imagine worse case scenarios. She actually has it pretty good. She has a lot of support from her friends and family. Baby daddy is actually in the picture and doing a good job. Yeah, there is the drama with Marcel and the witches, but there are definitely people in worse situations. So she's considering herself to be quite fortunate.

"Then what is it?" Klaus asks softly, turning his head slightly to look at her. She feels his stubble brush against her forehead and her hair.

"Do you think the baby can tell? That you're its father? I always feel better when you're around, and not in a lovely, sentimental way. I mean, it feels like the baby is feeling it," Caroline says, resting her cheek more on his shoulder. "Do you think that's a witch thing? Oh, I forgot it's probably also a werewolf. A werewolf thing, then?"

Klaus hums again for a long moment, considering. He reaches over with his free hand, placing it on Caroline's stomach and that feeling passes over Caroline again. She pulls her head up to look over at Klaus. He has the softest expression on his face as he looks down at her belly, caressing it gently with tender fingers. His eyes turn to look at her and there is something in those depths that Caroline isn't sure there is a word for. Affection is the closest she can get.

"I don't know about any of that. I heard stories about babies being more active around fathers, but as you know, I've not been one myself and I don't tend to spend a lot of time around people who are able to procreate for long enough to know, but I am... happy to hear that. Perhaps it is true, perhaps not. But I am happy to hear it if it were true."

Caroline wasn't sure what to say to that, which seemed fine as Klaus didn't follow up with anything else. But she was happy. Caroline never would have guessed that she would be here, in this position, with Klaus Mikaelson of all people. But despite everything they've been through - things she can forgive and things that she can't - she's happy.

Klaus lets out a soft sigh, before turning to look at Caroline. "I can't take you anywhere. That meeting with Marcel was an absolute disaster."

Caroline laughs, shaking her head. "Oh my god, I'm sorry!" She looks over to see him looking more amused than mad, the corners of his full lips curved up and his eyes shining in amusement. Thankfully their conversation and the fact that Caroline almost ripped apart a crowd of people so she's needed to rely on him has since eased his anger and annoyance. Surely he'd have been a lot madder for a lot longer if she had actually messed something up.

Thankfully it seems that either Marcel doesn't see her as a threat, didn't fully catch on to what she was saying, or finds her endearing. Either way, she's going to have to be a bit more careful.

* * *

A few days later Caroline and Bonnie leave the house while everyone else is away. Elijah and Klaus going to meet up with Marcel to continue to broker good relations - hopefully - and Hayley and Stefan going back out into the buyout looking for the wolves. Caroline isn't the one to just sneak out without saying anything but Bonnie managed to find an OB that was able to see them. Caroline wondered if she should at least tell Klaus that she was leaving, but figured that he would already be keeping Marcel busy and it wasn't like Marcel didn't already know that Caroline was pregnant.

Honestly, Caroline was just worried about Bonnie and if witches saw her. But Bonnie seemed confident and would keep her eyes peeled for any witches, plus Caroline really did need to go and see a doctor to make sure that her baby was okay. And to be perfectly honest, Caroline definitely didn't want to go alone. She had a nice long talk with her mom yesterday, getting everything off her chest in detail, trying to help her mom process all of this over facetime. Liz still seemed wary and unsure, but there was a sparkle in her eye at the idea of being a grandmother.

But this was for the safety of her baby, so she had to go, even if she was still worried about everything else. So Caroline agreed and they left for their appointment. It was nice to be able to walk around New Orleans with Bonnie - who also hadn't been there before. GPS was their best friend whenever they got lost on their way to the appointment and Caroline couldn't wait to just wander the city with her best friend without worrying about who saw them and who they would report back to. But a large part of Caroline really missed Elena. This would be a wonderful time for all three of them together.

Swallowing down the sadness of missing her friend, Caroline smiles and takes in New Orleans with bright eyes.

July 29th. That's her estimated due date.

After almost thirty minutes of waiting, and then going in to see a doctor, they confirmed with a blood test that she was pregnant and got her in for an ultrasound to get a few pictures of the baby and to make sure that everything was progressing smoothly and judge about how far along she is. She's over four months at this point and they were able to see that the baby was okay. They were a bit concerned about how it was growing but weren't too concerned yet. Thankfully the baby is getting stronger now that Caroline is wearing the necklace, but the doctors didn't know that.

Elijah and Klaus were at the house by the time Caroline and Bonnie got there.

"Welcome back, ladies," Elijah says cordially as soon as Bonnie and Caroline walked in through the front door.

"Hey," Caroline says, glancing over to see Klaus staring back at her. He doesn't seem angry, which she was sort of afraid that he would be, but his expression is even. "How was the meeting with Marcel?"

"Fine," Elijah answers, straightening out the cuffs of his shirt. "He's wary of there being two Originals in town."

"As he should be," Bonnie says, typing away on her phone, messaging Elena. "Your family has a long history of leaving people and places in the dust." She shrugs, casting a look their way as she stuffs her phone into her back pocket. "It's a good thing Rebekah isn't here. He needs to absorb the harsh reality of two Originals being in town before a third show up, especially since we haven't been fully honest with him."

"Truly," Klaus says noncommittally, blue eyes on Caroline. "And where did you ladies run off to today?"

"I went to an OB appointment," Caroline says. Klaus looks at her surprised while Elijah blinks a few times.

"Oh?" Klaus says softly, blue eyes wide. "And... how did that go?"

"Good," Caroline says, rubbing her stomach. "Jelly Bean is okay. Healthy. They are worried about its growth and stuff, but I already know why it was like that so I'm not too worried. But, I got something for you!" Caroline reaches into her bag, pulling out the ultrasound pictures before hanging her purse on the banister and bouncing over to Klaus, holding them out for him to look at while keeping one clutched in her hand. "Here's Jelly Bean!"

Klaus takes the pictures, eyes wide and innocent like a child. He looks through each one slowly, eyes taking in every bit of the ultrasound looking like he's enchanted, making Caroline's heart flutter. She just watches this look cross over his face and for the first time in her life, Caroline thinks that Klaus Mikaelson might be the cutest person in the world. He looks like... he looks like he's in love with the small image captured in the ultrasound.

"Beautiful..." Klaus says softly, eyes now half-lidded.

Caroline smiles softly. "Yeah. She is, isn't she?"

Elijah, who was peaking at the photos over Klaus's shoulder, looks up at her, immediately catching onto her words. She offers him a coy smile. It takes Klaus a second longer before he too realizes what she says. His eyes snap up to her and she offers the last picture for him to take, the one that says 'girl'. Klaus takes it slowly from her hand and stares at it for a moment before turning a bright smile up at her.

"A little girl?"

Caroline laughs, nodding. "Yeah, a little girl. Are you okay with that?"

Klaus shakes his head slowly, looking down at the picture again, no doubt reading that single word on the picture like Caroline did a thousand times on the way back to the house. Over and over and over again. A little girl. Jelly Bean is a little girl. Caroline's mind is already racing, imagining their lives together. Imagining dance practice or piano recitals. Imagining dressing up as princesses and pirates. Playing board games and learning to draw. She can also picture going shopping and dressing up her daughter and talking about love and playing in the park.

She imagined all sorts of things with the imaginary baby in her stomach, but now... now she can see a little girl.

"Okay?" Klaus whispers, blue eyes wide. "I am far better than okay." He runs his thumb over the word for a moment before looking up at Caroline again through long lashes, contemplative. His full lips part, considering, before pressing together again, and then they open once more, still warring with himself on whether or not he wants to say something.

"What?" Caroline asks, tilting her head slightly.

"I want to make a request to you but I'm not sure if I can make one..."

Caroline tilts her head a little more, still looking into Klaus's eyes as he passes the pictures over to Elijah to look at. "Just ask, I'll say yes or no."

The corners of Klaus's lips quirk. "If I may be so bold, I want to be there next time. The next appointment, I mean."

Caroline stares at him, blinking a few times trying to process his request. "Oh... oh! I feel like such an asshole! I didn't..." She waves her hands around in Klaus's face, trying desperately to grasp at words. "I'm sorry, Klaus! I just... I never thought that you would be interested in something like that, which is silly, Jelly Bean is your baby too. I'm sorry. I never thought of it. Ugh! I feel so bad. I'm sorry."

Klaus smiles lightly, reaching out to take her flailing hands, and holds them softly, rubbing the back of her knuckles soothingly. "I'm not mad, Caroline. I would just like to be there next time if I could."

Caroline squeezes his hands, feeling terrible. "Yes, please be there. I'm sorry, Klaus. I just didn't even think about it. I would have asked if I'd thought about it, but I didn't."

"I know," Klaus says easily, smiling sweetly at her. "I would just like to be there next time."

Caroline pulls his hand back, offering up a pinky finger, grinning at him. "Deal."

Klaus huffs, shaking his head before holding up his own pinky finger and linking them together with a little shake. "Deal."

"She's pretty, isn't she?" Bonnie says, looking at the ultrasound pictures in Elijah's hands as he looks through them with a soft expression on his face.

"She's beautiful," Elijah says, softly. "Crazy how the hope of our family could rest on the shoulders of something so small..." He blinks slowly at the pictures, hope shining in his eyes. "I can't wait to meet her."

"Yeah, me too," Bonnie says softly.

"Honestly," Caroline says pulling her pinky finger back while still holding onto Klaus's other hand, "she kind of looks like a tiny alien, but yeah. I'm excited to meet her too. She's got a crazy, dysfunctional family, but there is going to be a lot of love." Caroline smiles at Bonnie's crooked grin. "She's going to have so much love she's not going to know what to do with all of it."

Bonnie nods. "What's the saying? It takes a village? Well, we'll definitely have that covered."

Caroline laughs, shaking her head. "Yeah, no kidding."

* * *

Caroline opens the door, eyebrows raised. "Uh, hello?"

A pretty dark-skinned woman stands in the doorway. She offers a half-smile and an awkward wave. "Hey. I'm Sabine. Sophie asked me to come in to check on you and see how you are."

Caroline's brain doesn't immediately understand. She blinks a few times, trying to compute what was said to her. She had just woken up from a nape and was going to get her blood for the day and as she was walking by the front door she heard the knock. She was too tired and too hungry to be able to compute what was going on right off the bat. "Sophie? Do you mean Sophie Deveroux? Are you a witch?"

She presses her lips together, still smiling awkwardly, kneading her hands a bit in front of her. But despite her apparent nervousness, Caroline has the feeling that it's not completely genuine. She rests one shoulder against the door frame with one foot locked around the door to keep it pretty much closed with only her body visible. She knows that witches don't have to be invited in, but she feels better blocking the way in regardless.

She definitely wished that Klaus, Elijah, Stefan, and Bonnie were home. Klaus and Stefan were wandering around town looking for something or reliving old memories from when they met here a long time ago, but Caroline's not sure. Elijah took Bonnie just outside of New Orleans to someplace she could practice magic without worrying about Marcel's secret weapon finding out. It was only her and Hayley but Hayley was probably on the other side of the house not aware that anything was going on.

Caroline blinks a few times, sending mental warnings to Hayley, praying that she could somehow hear Caroline mentally yelling at her but she's not holding onto a lot of hope. Plus, she wants to get this witch out of here before Bonnie gets back.

"I'm fine. I don't need you guys to check in on me. I'm still here in New Orleans. Don't worry about it." Caroline goes to close the door but Sabine reaches forward and stops her. It takes all of Caroline's willpower not to slam the door in her face using her enhanced vampiric strength. But she can't. Not only is she not that type of person - save for a select few - but she also knows it won't go over well.

"Look," Sabine says, pushing the door open a bit and Caroline lets her but keeps her foot in place so it can't open it much further than what Caroline was willing to allow. "I know that this situation is less than ideal and you're not exactly happy with us right now, but I promise, we aren't going to hurt you. We really have no need to."

Honestly, Caroline can't believe what she's hearing. She feels like she's stepped into an alternate universe where everything is chaos and madness. She levels her gaze at the woman in front of her. "Sabine, was it? You're blackmailing the father of my baby. I'm stuck in New Orleans until my baby is born. It's not like I'm here to visit and the witches are just being friendly hosts, no, you called me here to manipulate Klaus for whatever it is that you want him here for, and there isn't any guarantee that I can't your word on anything."

Sabine stares back at her, eyebrows pulling together slightly. "I understand how worrisome all of this must be for you, but I do promise, you're not in any danger. I'm just here to check on you and your baby for Sophie."

"I'm fine," Caroline sniffs, crossing her arms over her chest, "my baby is fine, and tell Sophie that I think our interactions outside of Rousseau's should be limited to phone calls."

Sabine hesitates but Caroline is done with this conversation. Hayley is probably off in her room, mentally preparing for the full moon tonight while everyone else is out of the house, and Caroline is just done with all of this. The less she has to do with the witches, the better. She really wished that Klaus was here, people tend to scatter like roaches when Klaus is involved. Besides, she doesn't want to say the wrong thing and end up screwing up all their plans. She messed up enough times during the meeting with Marcel. The last thing she wants to do is further screw things up.

"I'm sorry that you came all the way out here for that." Caroline moved to close the door when Sabine reached in, wrapping her hand around Caroline's arm.

There is a freezing shock that runs through both of them. It takes a moment, a long moment of the two of them just staring at each other with wide eyes as Caroline starts to realize what that was. That was the thing that Bonnie goes through whenever she touches something supernatural that she hadn't realized what it was yet. That cold, chilling warning her witch senses give her whenever something unnatural is near.

She knows, Caroline's brain screams. She knows!

Sabine and Caroline just stare at each other as Caroline struggles to push back the panic firing through her veins at incredible speeds. She can feel herself starting to panic just staring into Sabine's wide brown eyes. She knows. She knows that Caroline is a vampire. It's over. It's all over. Not only is Klaus going to kill her, but he's also going to tear New Orleans apart.

No, no. She can't let Sabine leave, not if she knows the truth. Maybe... maybe she can talk to her, try to convince her not to say anything. No, no that'll never work. She's stuck. The only other option would be to kill her. Caroline couldn't do that. Sabine did nothing wrong.

But this could jeopardize her baby's safety, that evil little voice in the back of her head whispers.

Her baby, that's right. Jelly Bean comes first.

Before Caroline can react, Sabine's lips part and she whispers. "The baby... the baby..."

The baby? Jelly Bean? Wait, something is wrong with the baby? What...? What did she see?

"What?" Caroline mumbles, her body freezing over as her lips can barely move to form words. "What did you say? What... what's wrong with my baby?"

Sabine's eyes lose focus, as her hand gripping Caroline's arm tightens. Her lashes flutter a bit as she tries hard to focus on what she's seeing.

Caroline can feel the panic starting to settle in around her. "Sabine? Sabine, what did you see?"

"Death... I see... death."

Caroline feels her entire world crash down around her, blue eyes blown wide in terror as ice fills her veins. Death...? What does she mean by that? Is something going to happen to her baby? To her little girl?

"Let her go!"

Suddenly, Hayley is at Sabine's side, grabbing hold of her arm and ripping her hand away from Caroline's, and effectively pushing herself between the two. The short brunette looks fierce with her posture wide and confrontational. Her stance is aggressive and Caroline can see horror flicker across Sabine's face as Hayley's eyes flash yellow. It's close enough to the full moon tonight that she can shift.

"Hayley," Caroline says softly, reaching out to touch the werewolf's arm but Sabine is already backing away, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry about coming unannounced," Sabine says, back away a bit quicker before turning completely and heading for her car. She climbs in too quickly, looking haunted, before driving off. Caroline felt terror coursing through her body as her mind races trying to figure out what Sabine could have meant with her words. She said so few of them and out of context, Caroline has no idea what to think other than the worst possible thing that she could think about.

Caroline pushes past Hayley for a moment, thankful that Hayley was there to offer her support and get her out of a potentially bad situation but honestly it couldn't have come at a worse moment. Caroline _needed _to know if Jelly Bean was going to be okay. She needed to talk to Sabine again to make sure.

Caroline makes it a few steps off the porch, watching as Sabine's car vanishes out of sight feeling dread wash over her as she kneads her hands tightly against her stomach, terrified of what could have just happened. Something terrible is going to happen to her baby. She has to know what's going to happen. She has to tell Klaus, she has to save her daughter.

Jelly Bean comes first.

Through the screaming in her ears, Caroline hears a loud thump behind her but it sounds a thousand miles away underwater and it takes her frantic mind almost thirty full seconds to realize that she should be alarmed by what she heard. She blinks a few times, spine straightening up as the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

Caroline looks up at the porch to see the open doorway and nothing more. She blinks slowly before looking down at Hayley's unmoving body crumpled onto the floor. Caroline jumps into motion, rushing up the stairs and kneeling down next to the werewolf girl. She reaches out to touch her neck to feel the pulse and after taking a few panicked breathes she forces herself to calm down to be able to hear Hayley's soft breathing.

She's alive. She's fine.

"Hayley..." Caroline says softly, pushing her hair out of the way a bit but she can't see anything that immediately catches her attention. She has no idea what happened to Hayley but she is starting to panic again. "Oh my god."

Then she feels it, almost instantly, someone at her back. Once more the hairs on the back of her neck prickles. She doesn't get the chance to move much, just turn her head slightly, when someone grabs hold of her neck and twists it sharply and everything goes dark.


	15. Locator

**Author's Note: Hello my loves! I am so sorry for the long wait! Thank you all so much for your support so far! I really do hope that you continue to enjoy this story! Let me know what you think!**

"And this is Stefan Salvatore," Klaus says, gesturing to the youngest vampire with them. "He's an old friend of mine from Chicago. He's also a friend of Caroline's."

Marcel takes Stefan's hand and offers him a charming thousand-watt smile. "Another sired by Klaus?"

Stefan's smile tightens a bit, remembering the strain on their already tumultuous relationship that that whole debacle put on them. He shakes Marcel's hand before pulling away and straightening up a bit. "Indirectly. I was changed by someone else. But, uh, yeah. I guess he was."

Marcel nods slowly. "How is Caroline doing? It's been a few days since I last saw her. How is she?"

"Good," Stefan says, smiling a bit more assuredly. "She's good. She's Caroline. She's trying to respect your wishes about witches in the Quarter but she is going a bit stir crazy. She organizes and plans and cleans." He looks down for a moment, considering something before looking back up at Marcel. "You like her, don't you?"

Marcel opens his mouth, looking shocked while trying to find the words, he obviously didn't expect that from the younger vampire. He glances over at Klaus, who purses his lips in his smile at the man he raised.

"It's alright," Stefan says, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he shuffles his feet. "It hasn't been long but she does that to people. Makes them like her. It's her compassion, I think. She just has a way about her. She looks into your eyes with those big blue ones and she takes your heart right from your chest. She does it with kindness and in such a way you feel you have to thank her afterward. You didn't ask for it, you didn't want it but she did it anyway."

Marcel's flustered look turns into a coy smile. The type of smile that crinkles the skin around his eyes. "Ah, so it's a natural superpower of hers, I see."

Stefan smiles more back at him. "Yeah, unfortunately. It's how she made the big bad wolf submit."

Marcel's brown eyes flicker over to Klaus, who was staring back at him intensely, trying to decide on something that affects him deeply. Marcel knows that look, that mental war that plays across his sire's face as he tries desperately to decide on what he's going to do about a situation that has him emotionally bound up. He's fighting with himself over something that is very important.

Honestly, it meant a lot that Klaus was opening up about more people in his life to Marcel. He wasn't sure that once they went their separate ways that they wouldn't be able to get back to this point. And it looks to Marcel that Stefan was a friend of his, and Caroline wasn't. At least not just a friend. Marcel would have to be absolutely blind not to see how much his sire favors the young blond girl.

Like Stefan said. Young Caroline Forbes "made the big bad wolf submit".

When they came to meet with him, Marcel was already there waiting for them. He watched his sire hold the door open for her, follow her to the table she chose, and scoot in next to her, blocking her body from the rest of the room. Then those dangerous blue eyes turned right to him and Marcel is reminded immediately of the hundreds of years that separate them. Why Klaus Mikaelson was never someone to underestimate.

Marcel knew not to test Klaus's patience, especially with how protective he was over the young girl before. Something about her was special - as only the extraordinary catch Klaus's attention, but Marcel wasn't quite sure what it was just yet.

She greeted him kindly, and he forced himself to relax, for her sake. It's obvious that she was worried and fidgeting, her heart racing a mile a minute, but she started to relax when he did. Klaus didn't, of course. He laid his arm against the back of her chair, which if she noticed, she didn't react to, and watched Marcel with this stoic face, blue eyes dark and calculative.

They talk a bit and Marcel tries to learn more about this girl whom his sire obviously fancies. She's kind and offers a smile free of charge, which Marcel really liked. And it didn't hurt that she was nice to Cami, someone Marcel already liked. She's honest and speaks her mind. She looks timid, but there is a strength in her that Marcel was curious about. It was only when she blurted out that she was pregnant that Marcel finally understood where her strength came from. He was shocked, no doubt, but then he wasn't so shocked.

If there was one thing that Marcel knew was his sire's kryptonite, it was children. Marcel knew that his sire had a particular soft spot for children, so to learn that this child - just eighteen years old - was going to have a baby. Double babies, no wonder Klaus was interested in her. And the baby is a witch. Caroline is bound to the witches of New Orleans and the witches here want Klaus to distract Marcel.

Throughout this whole exchange, Klaus has been weary of Marcel - which he expected - but also very tender toward Caroline. He wasn't overly casual with his touches, but he was placing his arm around the back of her seat, rubbing at her back when she wasn't feeling well, and even when he was starting to get upset, she would reach out and take his hand he would let her. All things not completely unusual for Marcel's sire, but there was definitely something more going on here between those two.

She knew Marcel's sire well. Her blurting out that she was pregnant was obviously not what his sire had wanted and she could tell. Cupping his face like that? Looking into his angry eyes and telling him to breathe? Either she has something on him that Marcel would kill to know about, or his sire really was fancy for the young pregnant girl.

Klaus's honesty about his feelings were both refreshing in their rarity - seeing as he's only usually honest about these things once everything is already burning around them or he's been backed into a corner - and welcoming in their sincerity. Marcel knows that something like this isn't easy for his sire. It's not something he does unless under duress, usually. But this girl has been trying to convince Klaus, since learning about their history, to just bury the hatchet. To just work through their problem or just forget about it and start anew?

Admittedly, there wasn't a lot of time throughout the years when Marcel didn't want to reach out for his sire, just to see him again. Just to talk to him. They were close, very close, and more times than not... well, Marcel has missed him. And it's obvious to him now that Klaus has missed him too.

And now the witches are planning on using his sire as a distraction to try and find Davina. And they are keeping Klaus locked in place here because one of them is linked to Caroline, whom he fancies. And despite the predicament that they put Caroline into she was still willing to offer them the benefit of the doubt. She called Marcel out on his manhandling of the witches while condoning them as well. Admittedly there isn't really an innocent party here, and while Caroline obviously doesn't know what all is going on, she's offering to understand to both sides. She has no love for the witches that threaten her and her baby, but she understands that no one forces Klaus Mikaelson into anything all willy nilly. Making Marcel's sire do anything he doesn't want to comes at great personal risk.

After Caroline walked away to pay the tab, and before she came back to impart wisdom on Klaus's current mindset - as far as she knows it - Klaus revealed a lot to Marcel. Maybe more than he anticipated, maybe not, but Caroline is important to him. Very important. And while it still isn't completely clear that Klaus is on his side - which isn't unusual since Klaus is usually only on Klaus's side - he's definitely not fond of the witches. Not that Marcel can really blame him, or Caroline for that matter, because he's not particularly fond of them right now either.

Klaus bringing Stefan, a friend of his, to meet Marcel is bigger than it would appear to the untrained eye. Klaus is offering an olive branch, in his own way, and Marcel feels a bit of hope in his gut for their chances of making it through this. Maybe they can't start anew, there might just be too much history, but that doesn't mean that they can't mend some of the broken pieces and move forward. Marcel really did miss Klaus. And maybe it's not too late to rebuild what they lost. What Marcel essentially destroyed.

Klaus will be mad, furious, but maybe he'll be able to accept Marcel's actions after a lot of yelling and screaming. Maybe some fighting, but he really does hope that they can make it through this. It is a disaster of his own making and he knew he couldn't live in ignorant bliss forever. One day Klaus would reappear before him and when that day came, inevitably the truth would come with it.

He has to tell Klaus the truth, he knows that he does, but maybe he needs to endear himself to his sire before he does. Maybe that will lessen the fallout. Maybe.

And maybe, unknowingly, Caroline has helped pave the way with the strange influence she has over the big bad wolf.

They spent the day walking around, talking, and admiring the sights. Stefan's fun, managing to easily keep up with the older vampires, even with only about thirty years separating the younger two. They kept everything light and easy, making sure to stay away from heavy topics that might stir up any unwelcomed conflicts with their long history.

As they were walking down the street with the sun starting to dip down closer to the horizon, Stefan feels his phone vibrate in his back pocket. He pulls it out and looks at the screen.

His eyebrows pull together tightly as he answers the phone. "Bonnie?"

"Stefan," Bonnie says, her voice hitched in worry that immediately puts him on edge. "Stefan, please tell me that Caroline is with you."

Stefan's jaw tightens as he turns to look at Klaus and Marcel. Marcel's eyebrows quirked up curiously while Klaus's is flat, staring hard at the younger vampire. "Caroline?" Stefan says slowly. "No, she's not here." Klaus's face hardens in worry, the levity of his expression from their joking is gone so swiftly. "Why? What happened?"

"Caroline's gone?" Klaus asks, walking closer. "Where is she?"

Stefan shakes his head, holding his hand out to stop the hybrid from getting into his face as Bonnie says, worriedly, "Elijah and I just got back to the house. We found Hayley unconscious outside and Caroline is missing. We checked the house and couldn't find her, but there didn't appear to be any struggle so I... I just needed to know if Hayley was alone when she was attacked or if Caroline was still here. I... I didn't know if you guys came back for her and just didn't say."

"No, Bonnie, we didn't," Stefan says, looking into Klaus's eyes. "Klaus and I ran into Marcel, we've been with him all day. Is Hayley alright?"

"Yeah," Bonnie says, sighing in frustration. "Elijah is with her in the house, she got knocked in the head pretty hard. Someone knocked her out but she must have woken up almost right away because she was hit hard in the side of the head. If she wasn't a wolf..."

"Yeah," Stefan says, looking at the fury building upon Klaus's face. "So someone attacked Hayley and took Caroline."

Bonnie sucks in a deep breath. "Yeah. I'm going to start looking for her."

"We will too," Stefan says, looking over at Klaus to see chilling anger tightening the skin around his nose and mouth. "But New Orleans is a big place. Any idea where to start?"

"None," Bonnie admits. "We'll try to get Hayley up and see if she remembers anything. Tonight is the night of the full moon, she's going to be healing a lot faster than normal. So hopefully..." she sucks in another deep breath, "hopefully she'll wake up soon."

Klaus reaches forward, taking Stefan's phone from him and talking into it, "Let me know what you learn as soon as she wakes up."

"Alright," Bonnie says, then hesitates, "Klaus, I am not going to wait long. If Hayley doesn't wake up soon, I'm going to use magic to find Caroline. I don't care how it screws up your plans. Just know that." Then she hangs up.

Klaus underhand tosses the phone back at Stefan's chest before turning toward the street, ready to start tearing up the pavement to look for the baby vampire when Marcel steps up next to the enraged blond. "Caroline is missing?"

"Don't worry about Caroline, Marcellus," Klaus growls, eyes scanning the crowds like Caroline will simply just appear walking amongst them as if nothing was wrong when Marcel reaches out and puts a hand on his sire's shoulder.

"I do worry," Marcel says, staring into the eyes of his sire. "She's eighteen, pregnant, and I was there that day. I saw how sick she became just sitting there at the table doing nothing. We don't play games with the lives of kids, Klaus. We just don't. Let me help. I got eyes all over this city."

Stubbornly, Klaus opens his mouth to tell Marcel not to worry about it but Stefan intervenes, sending the oldest of them a look before turning his eyes to Marcel. "We would appreciate the help." He pulls up a picture of her on his phone, taken only a few months ago, just before all of this madness, crinkly-eyed, beaming grin, beautiful Caroline, and hands it over to Marcel.

Marcel sends the photo to himself and then sends it to all his men to keep a lookout for her along with a basic description. Height, age, roughly what she was last seen wearing, and that no one was to approach her, just to reach out to him and let him know and he'll handle it from there.

"Any idea who would have wanted to take her?" Marcel asks, looking between the younger vampire and the older hybrid.

"No one," Stefan says, shaking his head. "She doesn't know anyone. We just got here. And the only people who knew about us being here was our friends back in Mystic Falls. I'm not sure she knows anyone else."

"The witches?" Klaus says, looking over at Stefan. Then he looks past him to the shop just over the younger vampire's shoulder at Rousseau's. It doesn't take him longer than a moment to make up his decision and he goes stomping over to the building with the blackest look on his face. He walks right into the bar, to see that it is remotely empty despite how busy it was outside.

"Klaus!" Marcel calls, chasing after him with Stefan.

Klaus rounds on Marcel before he can step foot into the building pointing at him. "No, you cannot be here. If the witches know that you and I are working together, if they have her they are going to make it impossible for me to get to her. Stay. Out. Here."

Marcel pauses, staring into the furious eyes of his sire before backing down. Something about the anger in his voice and across his face made the younger vampire stop in his tracks, nodding his head slowly. Klaus wasn't going to fight anyone on this. He wasn't going to play any games with Caroline's life and that of her baby - of Klaus's baby, but Marcel didn't know that part.

Stefan steps in and to the side of the door as Klaus looks around at the few people in the bar like they were maggots for the briefest of moments before he turns on the charm and compulsion starts rolling off of him in waves. "Hello everyone," he says, sickeningly sweet, drawing all the patrons' eyes to him. "You all had a wonderful meal but now you're ready to leave. Your bills have been paid and you are ready to continue about the rest of your daily plans. Goodbye now."

Slowly, but surely, the compulsion sinks in and the guests get up to leave, abandoning their plates of half-eaten food or just ordered drinks behind them as they all start shuffling out.

Stefan waits until the last patron is out the door before flipping the sign to closed and locking the door to make sure that no one else comes in while pleasant Klaus sinks into the depths of his personality and enraged Klaus springs to life. He looks around the room for a moment before his face twists into an angry smile that turns the temperature in the room below freezing.

"Oh, Sophie!" He calls, his voice sickeningly jubilant, despite the angry snarl across his face. "Come on out, Sophie!"

A moment later, the kitchen door opens up slowly and Sophie sticks her head out and looks around, eyebrows pulled together tightly, looking around the empty restaurant before her eyes land on Klaus. She sucks in a deep breath before stepping out from around the door. She wraps her arms around herself looking pale as a ghost.

"Did you scare everyone away?" She asks, eyebrows pulling tighter, she looks exhausted, rubbing at her neck.

Klaus zips across the room and grabs her around the throat and basically throws her into the closest wall and presses up next to her, staring into her eyes. Stefan calls out to Klaus, calling his name and telling him to be careful, but Klaus is already back to calm. He sucks in a slow, deep breath, staring into her fearful eyes as she sucks in deep breaths of pain.

"Where is Caroline, witch," Klaus snarls in her face, blue eyes bleeding yellow as sclera darken.

Terror splashes across her face as she stares into the eyes of the angry hybrid in front of her. "I..."

"Caroline, Sophie, where is she?" Klaus growls, leaning in closer.

Sophie presses tightly against the wall, eyes were blown wide in fear as she stares back at him. She sucks in another breath, blinking a few times before finally registering Klaus's words. "Caroline? Something is wrong with Caroline?"

"Don't speak to me as if I were a fool, Sophie. No one here has their eyes on Caroline but you and yours." Klaus leans in closer, his lips curling in such a way to reveal his werewolf fangs in his rage. "Don't try to fool me. Where is she? Where is Caroline? You will tell me or so help me, you will wish for death, Sophie Deveraux, of this, I swear."

"I don't know!" Sophie says quickly, pressing her pale lips tightly together as the terror is slightly replaced with panic. "The last I heard she was at your residence from Sabine."

"Sabine..?" Klaus growls, his voice a deep rumble in his chest. "Who is that?"

"One of my fellows..." Sophie says, her voice shaking. "She stopped by to check on her for me. I haven't been feeling well these last few days, and I hadn't heard from Caroline so I wanted to make sure that she was okay."

"So this Sabine took her," Klaus rumbles.

"No, she wouldn't," Sophie insists. "She just went there because I asked. No other reason. She didn't do anything to Caroline. She wouldn't."

"I don't even believe you for a moment," Klaus growls.

"Well you should, because she didn't do anything! I swear, she just went there because I asked. Where is Caroline? What's going on?" Sophie searches his face, trying to find a sign of what happened in his expression. "Is she okay?"

"As if you care," Klaus growls.

"Of course I care," Sophie insists, eyes were blown wide. "She's innocent! She has nothing to do with anything. If it wasn't for you, she wouldn't even be on our radar - so to speak. And keep in mind, I am still connected to her, if she dies, I die."

Klaus blinks, slowly, and his eyes return to normal as he pulls back a bit, finally able to hear honesty through the enraged buzzards in his ears. She was right. Sophie would naturally have a vested interest in Caroline's safety, if only just for herself and her own health.

"She's right, Klaus," Stefan says, walking closer and placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "Now lay off. Look at her. Look at how pale she is. It doesn't look natural. And she looks like she can barely stand."

Klaus pulls back finally and Sophie slumps against the wall, looking pale as a sheet. It's hard to tell if it was fear of Klaus that made that so, or if perhaps it was an indicator of what happened to Caroline. Klaus sucks in a slow, deep breath before nodding and forcing himself to take a full step back to give the witch some space to breathe.

Sophie is pale and using the wall to hold herself up. Her eyes are glazed and surrounded by dark circles. She keeps rubbing at her neck like it was still aching from earlier. Klaus throwing her against the wall probably didn't help it. Honestly, she looks like death.

If she looks like that, Klaus can't imagine how Caroline feels. How she looks. And that worry that's been building in his chest since the moment he learned that something was wrong with Caroline - that she was missing - is being fueled into his anger as a way to express that worry. He tries to stomp it down but it's mounting dangerously quickly.

"If she really doesn't know anything then this is a dead-end, Klaus," Stefan says, and her weary brown eyes turn to him, not recognizing him but understanding that he was one of Klaus's people. He was there as back up for Klaus. And for Caroline. "We have to find her."

"I can help," Sophie says, pushing away from the wall a bit but shrinks back into it when Klaus turns a menacing glare toward her.

"You, I think, have done enough." With that he turns toward the door, unlocking it and stomping out into the packed streets, his jaw and hands clenched tightly in anger. Stefan spares one last look over at Sophie, who sank to the ground with terrified wide brown eyes, before turning away only for something to catch his eye. A movement within the bar, he looks again but sees nothing. He hesitates for only a moment before shrugging it off and following after Klaus.

"Did your men learn anything?" Klaus is asking Marcel as soon as Stefan crosses the busy street and back over to the two older men.

"One of my guys saw someone fitting Caroline's description being taken to the bayou but they didn't want to go out there, without having any idea what was going on," Marcel says, shaking his head. "She was unconscious and being carried by a dark-haired man, but that's all he saw."

"Your 'guy' didn't try to stop him?" Klaus asks, gritting his teeth more in anger.

"Honestly, I don't know if it even occurred to him," Marcel says sincerely, rolling his eyes in disgust and disappointment.

"I want his head," Klaus snarls.

"Who? Marcel's guy or the one who has Caroline?" Stefan asks, eyebrows raised.

Klaus growls. "Both."

Marcel and Stefan both share a look, but neither say anything for a moment. Finally, Stefan says, "So, what? Are we going to traipse around the bayou looking for her? Because that is going to take forever and we don't know what sort of condition that Caroline is in, let alone whoever this guy that took her is." Stefan crosses his arms over his chest, shaking his head. "And why the bayou?"

Marcel presses his lips together tightly, dark eyes looking around the crowded streets. "We can't just go out there without direction. We need a plan. It's a big place and the last thing we want to do is get lost and make Caroline wait longer than necessary."

"We have to do something," Stefan says, looking between both men, wondering which will bend first. He knows what they need, and he knows that they know. They need a witch. They need to do some sort of locator spell to find her, that's the only way to narrow it down without all of Marcel's guys including Klaus and his posse combing through a werewolf infested bayou looking for a pregnant vampire. So who is going to bend first? Klaus in revealing Bonnie to Marcel? Or Marcel in revealing his weapon to Klaus.

Their saving grace right now is that there is a chance that Marcel believes that they don't know what's going on. That another witch is what is keeping a death grip on the covens of New Orleans. Maybe that will be the thing that tips the scales. Or they are just going to keep staring at each other until one of them breaks down or Caroline just magically appears on her own. Wouldn't that be some wishful thinking?

Stefan knows that Klaus can be really stubborn when he wants to be, but he also knows that Caroline makes him very impulsive. That Klaus would leap into any sort of danger for her and now there is a baby growing in her - his baby - and that only makes him more impulsive. Stefan knew from the beginning that the idea of the baby freaked Klaus out, made him weary and very aware of all of his many enemies, but Caroline being Caroline made him forget those things.

She makes him dote on her because sometimes she's thoughtless and doesn't drink blood because she's worried about her baby. And she needs constant reassurance that her baby is okay and so she makes him listen to it's - her - heartbeat to reaffirm that she's okay. And forces Klaus to bond on an emotional level with it to assuage his fears. She doesn't mean to, and there is no calculative move on her part. It's just Caroline being Caroline and that's how she trapped the big bad wolf without lifting a finger.

And now Klaus has a daughter? Or will? Caroline has such an emotional death grip on Klaus that that little girl growing in her belly is going to have Klaus wrapped around her little finger.

Klaus's stubborn resolve disintegrates quickly as the seconds pass and his thoughts stray to what horrible things could be happening to Caroline, but just before it breaks down completely Marcel yields. He whips out his phone with an "I think I know someone who might help us" and turns away for a moment to call them. Klaus looks over at Stefan with dark, worried eyes, but says nothing. At this point, Stefan doesn't care about the games that they were playing and it's starting to look like Klaus doesn't either. Klaus looks pale and worried and Marcel must have seen that.

Maybe he's not as bad as everyone fears he might be. Maybe Caroline was right.

"Hey D, I need a favor," Marcel says, glancing over at Klaus. "I need you to find someone for me."

* * *

D turned out to be Davina Claire, as Marcel introduced her. He brought them to the church where she was waiting for them. She's young, maybe sixteen, wearing a long white dress like an angel with long brown hair like a halo around her hair and lightly tanned skin. She kneads her hands at her stomach, watching Klaus and Stefan carefully but steps close to Marcel, trusting him to keep her safe.

"Did you bring something of hers?" Davina asks, keeping her voice even despite how scared she looks. "Something I can use to locate her?"

"Elijah is - " Stefan starts but the doors open behind him, cutting him off. They turn and look to see Elijah walking down the walkway between the pews holding a simple purple hairbrush in his hand. He looks at Stefan, offering a little nod, before looking into the eyes of his brother, sharing an unspoken conversation with him before looking over at Davina.

"Hello, young witch, I'm Elijah and I believe this is what you were looking for," he says, holding out the brush for her to take. Davina takes it and looks down at the nearly clean hairbrush, blinking a few times. She looks back up at Elijah as he stuffs his hands into his pocket with a smooth, "She's very cleanly in all aspects of her life, but there were just a few strands of hair so hopefully, it's enough."

Davina nods, looking at the brush for a moment before turning around and walking over to the table behind her where there are supplies set up for the locator spell. She pulls some of the remaining strands of long blond hair from the brush and places it over the map of New Orleans on the table. She waves her hand and all the candles in the room light up and the bulbs overhead turn off, bathing the room in gentle darkness.

Davina holds her hands over the map and closes her eyes, saying a slow incantation over and over again, growing in volume as the spell starts to activate. Magic is thick in the air, making the hairs on Stefan's arms stand on end. The hairs from Caroline's comb turn to ash on the table where they lay and the spell stops. Davina opens her eyes and looks down at it, her eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

"It didn't work," Davina whispers.

"It didn't work?" Klaus repeats, blue eyes wide. "What in the bloody hell do you mean it didn't work?"

Davina looks over at Marcel, panic written across her face. "It didn't work. I can't find her. I can sense that she's here, in New Orleans... I just... I just can't seem to find her. She's hidden somehow. But the magic from the necklace you told me about is still active. I know she's here, I just can't seem to locate her."

"It's okay, D, just breathe," Marcel says, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Do you have any ideas?"

Davina looks down at the map again, apprehensively. "I don't know. There has to be another way but... I don't..." She chews on her lower lip a bit, trying to think of something. "I could try and locate the necklace but..."

"It's made of power from the ancestors, you're not going to be able to distinguish it on these lands."

All eyes turn to Bonnie, walking slowly down between the pews, her dark eyes focused on Davina, pointedly ignoring the hard stare of Klaus at the side of her head.

Marcel's eyebrows pull together, looking at the other dark-skinned girl. "And you are?"

"She's a witch," Davina says, blue eyes wide as the slightly shorter witch walks up to the table to stand on the opposite side of the New Orleans witch.

"A witch?" Marcel says, looking over at Klaus with narrowed eyes.

Klaus stares back at him without saying a word. Bonnie places her hands on the table to look between Davina and Marcel. "Caroline is my best friend, and she's missing. I'll tell you the same thing I told Klaus. I care more about her and that baby in her belly than I do about whatever squabbles are happening here in New Orleans between the witches and you. So yeah, I am a witch and I will find my best friend and her baby." Her dark eyes find Marcel's own dark eyes. "And you can't stop me."

"How are you going to do that?" Davina asks. "Miss uh..."

"Bonnie," Bonnie says easily.

"Bonnie..." Davina says slowly, staring at the older witch like she's knot sure what to think of her just yet. "Her hair is gone, there is something blocking my ability to find her. How are you going to?"

"I'm going to use something stronger than hair to find her," Bonnie says, pulling her hands back to her side and tilting her head. "I'm going to use blood."

"Blood?" Davina echoes. "You have her blood?"

Bonnie shakes her head. "No, I'm going to use Klaus's."

Everyone's eyes turn to look at the Hybrid in the room. But his eyes are staring at Bonnie, hard, trying to decipher what she's trying to say. Was she really just going to reveal that the baby in Caroline's stomach was Klaus's? Just like that? She really didn't care.

"Why Klaus's blood?" Marcel asks, eyeing the witch carefully.

"Caroline has Klaus's blood," Bonnie lies easily, turning to look over at the hybrid. "I'm going to use Klaus's blood to locate the bit of blood that she has of his to find her."

The baby. Bonnie is going to use Klaus's blood to find the baby. To find Klaus's daughter.


End file.
